Who decides which judge will hear a particular case?
by 
Little-Bit
ANSWERS: 1
-
As a general rule, any judge could hear any case. In practical application though, there are criminal court judges and civil judges. Each side (criminal & civil) will usually have a master calendar department where all matters are set. From there, the presiding judge will determine which cases will be assigned to which judge for the proceedings. A case can be assigned to a judge for "all purposes" (the assigned judge keeps the case until it's resolved) or for a specific purpose (a particular hearing, motion or trial). Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have one judge that handles all the family court matters, one that does small claims, judges or commissioners that do traffic matters, etc. On the criminal side, some judges handle "calendar" courtrooms where they arraign new cases, set new dates for hearings and handle routine matters. Other courts deal with misdemeanors or felonies, depending on the judge's experience. Some courts are "long cause" courtrooms for trials that will take weeks or months to try (i.e. capital murder cases, intricate fraud cases, multiple defendant cases, etc.).
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC