About California Courts

Overview of the courts

order in which cases are seen The vast majority of cases in the California courts begin in one of the 58 superior, or trial, courts — located in each of the state's 58 counties. With facilities in more than 450 locations, these courts hear both civil and criminal cases, as well as family, probate, and juvenile cases.

The next level of judicial authority within the state's judicial branch resides with the Courts of Appeal. Most of the cases that come before the Courts of Appeal involve the review of a superior court decision that is being contested by a party to the case. The Legislature has divided the state geographically into six appellate districts, each containing a Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court serves as the highest court in the state, and has discretion to review decisions of the Court of Appeal in order to settle important questions of law and to resolve conflicts among the Courts of Appeal. The court also must review the appeal in any case in which a trial court has imposed a judgment of death.

California Courts at a Glance

Population served: More than 38 million--12.5 percent of the United States population
Total court system filings: Processed more than 10 million cases
Number of authorized judicial officer positions (including commissioners and referees): 2,134^{^*}
Court levels: Two-trial and appellate
Trial courts: 58-one in each county
Court of Appeal districts: 6 in 9 locations
Highest court: California Supreme Court
Total judicial branch budget (08-09): More than $3.75 billion
Judicial branch budget as percentage of total State Budget: 3.1

Jury service

Jury pay: $15/day starting with second day of service and 34 cents per mile, one way
Number of Californians summoned to jury service who completed service in 2008: 9,399,271^{^*^*}
Number of Californians summoned to jury service who served in 2008: 3,180,869, or 34 percent^{^*^*}

Court interpreters

Languages spoken in California
Languages certified for court interpreters: 13 (Arabic, Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and American Sign Language.)
Total number of court interpreter service days provided in the California Courts from 2004 to 2008: Over 1,000,000^{^{^*^*^*}}
Percent of interpreter services provided in Spanish: 83^{^*^*^*}

Family and juvenile

Family: Dissolution, legal separation and nullity of marriage: 153,206^*
Family: Child support, domestic violence and other: 305,608^*
Juvenile delinquency filings: 98,431^*
Juvenile dependency filings: 39,529^*

California Supreme Court

Justices: 1 Chief Justice, 6 Associate Justices
Filings: 9,274^*
Dispositions by written opinion: 116^*

Courts of Appeal

Justices: 105
Filings: 24,048^*
Dispositions by written opinion: 10,818^*

Superior Courts

Approximately more than 2,000 judicial officers^*
Filings: 10,255,360^*
Dispositions: 8,733,177^*

1 Updated September 2010
* From 2010 Court Statistics Report (FY 08-09)
** Annual Jury Data Report, 2008 (data from 55 of the 58 trial courts)
*** 2010 Language Need and Interpreter Use in California Superior Courts report