By Nomfundo Manyathi

The Gauteng branch of the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) and the Alabama Lawyers Association Judicial Council recently held a joint dinner in Sandton where the two bodies compared notes on their countries’ justice systems.

The first black Alabama Southern District magistrate judge, Sonja Bivins, said that magistrate judges in the United States were appointed by judges of the district court to serve for renewable terms of eight years.

Magistrate judge Bivins said that at the age of 65 a judge could apply for senior status and would be assigned a minimal number of cases.

Magistrate judge Bivins added that they had two court systems, a federal and a state system, and that in Alabama the court system included:

• Sixty-seven district courts manned by 98 judges. These courts have limited jurisdiction and can handle civil cases between $3 000 to $10 000. They also deal with juveniles and preliminary hearings. On the same level are 68 probate courts with 68 judges and 257 municipal courts with 228 judges. Judges of these courts serve for six years.
• Forty circuit courts with 131 judges, which have general jurisdiction. Circuit courts have original jurisdiction to hear civil cases when the amount in dispute is more than $10 000. In addition, they share jurisdiction with the district courts for most civil cases involving amounts between $3 000 and $10 000.
• Two appeal courts, one for criminal and another for civil appeals. Each of the courts has five judges. The civil appeals court has jurisdiction in cases involving less than $50 000.
• The Supreme Court of Alabama, which is the highest court in the country. It has nine justices, including a Chief Justice. It has exclusive jurisdiction over all appeals where the amount is higher than $50 000, and it makes rules governing administration, practice and procedures in all the courts in Alabama.

Ralph Cook, a retired justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, gave an overview of the Alabama criminal and justice systems.

He said that there were municipal or local courts and state courts. He added that the local courts had jurisdiction over violations of municipal rules, as well as over traffic offences, for example.

Deputy Judge President of the South Gauteng High Court, Judge Phineas Mojapelo, gave an outline of the South African court system. He said that there was only one court system in the country and that what was practised in Johannesburg was also practised in the other High Courts, unlike in the United States where different court systems applied in different states.

Nomfundo Manyathi, nomfundo@derebus.org.za

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2012 (Jan/Feb) DR 11.