Dictionary Definition
courthouse
Noun
1 a government building that houses the offices
of a county government
2 a building that houses judicial courts
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
- A public building housing courts of law.
- The public building where most American counties have their county offices.
Extensive Definition
- For the Arlington, Virginia neighborhood, see Courthouse, Virginia
United States
In most counties in the United States, the local trial courts conduct their business in a centrally located courthouse which may also house county governmental offices. The courthouse is usually located in the county seat, although large metropolitan counties may have satellite or annex offices for their courts.In some cases this building may be renamed in
some way or its function divided as between a judicial building and
administrative office building. Many judges also officiate at civil marriage
ceremonies in their courthouse chambers. In some places, the
courthouse also contains the main administrative office for the
county government, or when a new courthouse is constructed, the old
one will be used for other local government offices.
Each
United States district court also has a federally owned
building where its courtrooms, chambers and clerk's offices are
located. Many federal judicial districts are further divided into
divisions, which may also have their own courthouses, although
sometimes the smaller divisional court facilities are located in
buildings that also house other agencies or offices of the United
States government. There is even a US District Court in Yosemite
National Park.
The courthouse is part of the iconography of
American life and is equivalent to the city hall as the symbol of
the municipium in European free cities, then often shown in
American cinema (recently
in "Peyton
Place" or "Back
to the Future"). They range from small-town rural buildings
with a few rooms to huge metropolitan courthouses that take up
large plots of land. The style of American
architecture used varies, with common styles including federal,
Greek
Revival, neoclassicist, and
modern.
Due to concerns over potential violence, many courthouses in
American cities often have security checkpoints where all incoming
persons are searched for weapons, normally through the use of an
X-ray machine for all bags and a walk-through metal detector, much
like those found at airports.
For example, the Los Angeles Superior Court added
such checkpoints to all entrances to its main courthouse in
Downtown Los Angeles after a woman was shot and killed by her
ex-husband in open court in September 1995. The
Supreme Court of California ruled in 2002 that Los Angeles
County (which at the time was responsible for maintaining the
courthouses) was not liable to her three children under the
California Government Tort Claims Act.
After the Oklahoma
City bombing, the federal government proceeded to heavily
fortify all large federal buildings, including many urban
courthouses.
Some courthouses in areas with high levels of
violent
crime have redundant layers of security. For example, when the
California Supreme Court hears oral arguments at its branch
courtroom in Los Angeles,
visitors must pass through one security checkpoint to enter the
building, and another to enter the courtroom.
Pensacola,
Florida Las
Vegas, Nevada Chambers
County Courthouse in La
Fayette, Alabama Huntington,
West Virginia
Canada
In Canada each
municipality constructs its own courthouse, or several in the case
of large cities. In smaller communities the court is in the same
building as the city hall and
other municipal offices. In the past many courthouses also included
the local prison.
References
See also
courthouse in German: Courthouse
courthouse in French: Courthouse
courthouse in Norwegian: Tinghus
courthouse in Portuguese: Fórum
courthouse in Simple English:
Courthouse