A court of general jurisdiction is one that has the authority to hear cases of all kinds - criminal, civil, family, probate, and so forth. Most United States federal courts are courts of general jurisdiction, although the U.S. has several specialized courts (such as Bankruptcy court and Tax court) that are limited to hearing a specific kind of case. Many U.S. States have divided their courts between criminal and civil, with some making further divisions, assigning probate, family law, and juvenile cases, for example, to specialized courts. A trial at the Old Bailey in London as drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin for Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808-11). ... Criminal law (also known as penal law) is the body of statutory and common law that deals with crime and the legal punishment of criminal offenses. ... In the common law, civil law refers to the area of law governing relations between private individuals. ... Family Law was a television drama starring Kathleen Quinlan as a divorced lawyer who attempted to start her own law firm after her lawyer husband took all their old clients. ... Probate is the legal process of settling the estate of a deceased person; specifically, resolving all claims and distributing the decedents property. ... The United States federal courts are the system of courts organized under the Constitution and laws of the federal government of the United States. ... In the United States, federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. ... The United States Tax Court is a special court created by the U.S. Congress to adjudicate disputes over tax assessments. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties Libertarian Party State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of...

One significant effect of the classification of a court is the liability that a judge from that court might face for stepping beyond the bounds of that court. Judges are able to claim judicial immunity for acts that are not completely beyond their jurisdiction. For example, if a probate judge were to sentence a person to jail, that judge would not have immunity and could be sued because a probabte judge has no jurisdiction to effect a criminal sentence. However, a judge in a court of general jurisdiction who happened to be overseeing a probate case would be immune from suit for sending a party to jail, because handing down a criminal sentence is not completely beyond the jurisdiction of such a judge. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Immunity confers a status ojavascript:insertTags(ì,,)n a person or body that makes that person or body free from otherwise legal obligations such as, for example, lijavascript:insertTags(Ú,,)ability for damages or punishment for criminal acts. ...

This principle was established by the United States Supreme Court in Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349 (1978). The Court found in that case that an Indiana judge was immune from a suit brought by a young woman whom the judge had ordered to be sterilized, at the behest of the woman's mother. Because the Indiana court was a court of general jurisdiction, and no law of Indiana expressly prohibited the judge from issuing such an order, the Supreme Court found that the order was not completely beyond the jurisdiction of that judge. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Holding A judge will not be deprived of immunity because the action he took was in error, was done maliciously, or was in excess of his authority. ... // The United States Reports, the official reporter of the Supreme Court of the United States Case citation is the system used in common law countries such as the United States, England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia and India to uniquely identify the location of past court... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Sterilization is a surgical technique leaving a male or female unable to procreate. ...

See also

• Special Jurisdiction