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District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations. These include:
Scotland - United Kingdom
District courts try the most minor crimes. They are run by the local authority. They are staffed by lay judges assisted by a legally qualified "assessor". An exception is Glasgow where the volume of business requires the employment of three solicitors as "stipendiary magistrates". District courts may not impose a fine in excess of £2,500 or sentence someone to more than 60 days in prison (stipendiary magistrates may sentence someone to up to three months). In practice, most offences are dealt with by a fine.
Australia
District Court is the name given to the intermediate court in some Australian States. They hear indicatble (serious) criminal offences excluding treason, murder and manslaughter. Their civil jurisdiction is also intermediate, typically being for civil disputes where the amount claimed is greater than a few tens of thousands of dollars but less than a few hundreds of thousands of dollars. The limits vary between Australian States. In Victoria, the equivalent Court is called the County Court. Below them is the Magistrates' (or Local) Courts. Above them are the State Supreme Courts.
United States of America
See United States district court for details.
District courts are the trial courts of the federal court system, with jurisdiction over federal questions (trials and cases interpreting federal law, or which involve federal statutes or crimes) and diversity (cases otherwise subject to jurisdiction in a state trial court but which is between litigants of different states and/or countries). There are 89 districts in the 50 states. District courts also exist in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. So in total there are 94 U.S. district courts. They are subject to review by the appellate courts (United States Court of Appeals), which are, in turn, subject to review by the United States Supreme Court. Compare to the trial courts of each individual state which make up the United States of America. In some cases, a trial court in a state court can be called a district court as well, but when capitalized (District court), it is generally understood to mean federal trial court as described above.
Austria
Austria has some 200 district, or local, courts, which decide minor civil and criminal cases.
Finland
Finland has 63 district courts, which deal with criminal cases, civil cases and petitionary matters.
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