Term
| What document divides the powers of state government? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the seperation of powers doctrine? |
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Definition
| The government is divided into three branches of governmente: executive, legislative, and judicial. |
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Term
| Name the three branches of city government. |
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Definition
Legislative Branch: City Council
Judicial Branch: Municipal Court
Executive: CIty Manager, all administrative staff,police department |
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Term
| Does the city council have authority to set fines for the judge? |
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Definition
| NO. (The city council does have authority to adopt ordinacnes and create penalties for violating those ordinances) |
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Term
| List the courts established by the constitution. |
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Definition
Supreme Court
Court of Criminal Appeals
Courts of Appeal
District Court
COunty Court
Justice of the Peace court |
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Term
| What kind of courts are municipal courts? |
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Definition
| Municipal Courts are statutory courts because they were created by the Texas Legislature |
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Term
| When is a municipal court created in a municipality? |
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Definition
| A municipal court is created when a municipality is incorporated |
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Term
| Name two types of municipal Courts |
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Definition
| Municipal court of record or non-record municipal court |
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Term
| Define the term "jurisdiction" |
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Definition
| Jurisdiction is authority and legal power to hear and decide cases. |
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Term
| What is the difference between civil and criminal cases? |
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Definition
Civil case: brought when one person feels wronged by another person
Burden of proof: prepondernace of the evidence
Seeking damages
Criminal case: brought by government against a person charged with a crime
Burdern of Proof: Beyond a reasonable doubt
Fines or jail time |
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Term
| When a defendant posts a bond to appear in municipal court, and then fails to appear, does the municipal court have jurisdiction to forfeit the bond? |
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Definition
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Term
| What kind of cases must be intitiated in municipal court and not in any other court? |
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Definition
| Violations of city ordinances and violations of rules, resolutions, and orders of a joint airport board. |
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Term
| What is municipal court's jurisdiction over rules, resolutions, and orders of a joint airport board called? |
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Definition
| Exclusive original jurisdiction |
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Term
| With which court does municipal court share jurisdiction? |
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Definition
| Municipal courts share jurisdiction with justice of the peace courts and municipal courts of record share limited jurisdiction with county and district courts. |
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Term
| Over which type of offenses does municipal court share jurisdiction? |
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Definition
Municipal court has concurrent jurisdiction with the JP court in which the municipality is located in all criminal cases arising under state law that arise within the territorial limits of the city and property owned by the city in the city's ETJ and are punishable by fine only and no confinement in jail.
MC courts of record: share jurisdiction with county and district courts over dangerous structure cases and junked vehicle ordinances |
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Term
| What is the geographic jurisdiction of the municipal court? |
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Definition
The territorial limits of the city and property owned by the city within the city's extraterritorial limits.
Courts of record also have jurisdiction over certain ordinances within the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction. |
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Term
| What is a municipal court of record's jurisdiction over city ordinance nuisance violations? |
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Definition
| A municipal court of record has geographical jurisdiction over nuisance violations in the city's territorial limits and its extraterritorial limits. |
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Term
| When a city owns a park outside its ETJ what is municipal courts jurisdiction to hear cases charging fine only offenses committed in the park? |
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Definition
| Municipal Court does not have any jurisdiction over those offenses because the offenses occur outside of MC's extraterritorial jurisdiction. |
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Term
| What are the penalty limits of offenses over which municipal courts have jurisdiction? |
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Definition
MC has jurisdiction over offenses that are punishable by a penalty of a fine only and other sanctions, if any, which are authorized by statute and do not consist of confinement in jail or imprisonment.
MC have jurisdiction over any offense regardless of the amount of fine penalty as long as no confinement is included as a sanction. |
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Term
| Why does municipal court have jurisdiction to hear cases where a conviction may result in the Department of Public Safety suspending the defendant's driver's license? |
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Definition
| A sanction, such as a denial, suspension, or revocation of a privelege, does not affect the original jurisdciton of the municipal court, by an agency or entity other than the court. |
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Term
| What is an example of an offense that the penalty requires a sanction in addition to paying the fine? |
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Definition
| Minor in possession of alcohol: defendant must take alcohol awareness class. |
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Term
| What is the maximum amount of a fine for a Class C misdemeanor offense in the Penal Code? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the maximum penalty that a city council can establish for ordinace offenses involving health and fire safety violations? |
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Definition
| A fine not to exceed $2,000. |
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Term
| What is municipal court's theft jurisdiction? |
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Definition
Theft of property of value less than $50
Theft of property of value less than $20 if obtained by issuing or passing a check with insufficient funds
Theft of service less than $20
Theft of service or credit by making a false statement if value of property is less than $50 |
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Term
| When does municipal court acquire jurisdcition over a person who commits a fine only offense? |
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Definition
| When a complain or citation is filed with the court. |
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Term
| When a person who is issued a citation appears in court before the officer files the citation with the court, can the court request and accept a plea from the person? |
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Definition
| No. There are no charges filed by a complaint of by a citation. THe filing of the complaint or citation intitiates the case and gives the municipal court jurisdiction. |
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Term
| What is the statute of limitations for filing a complaint? |
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Definition
| Two years from the date of the commission of the offense. |
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