History of the D.C. Courts
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals,
the court of last resort in the District of Columbia,
was created by Congress by the District of Columbia Court
Reform and Criminal Procedure Act of 1970 (Public Law
91-358, 84 Stat. 473). This court reviews all appeals
from the Superior Court, as well as appeals from decisions
and orders issued by D.C. government administrative agencies.
Final judgments of the D.C. Court of Appeals are reviewable
by the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Act also created the Superior Court
of the District of Columbia as a trial court of general
jurisdiction over virtually all local legal matters. The
Court consists of divisions which provide for all local
litigation functions including criminal, civil, juvenile,
domestic relations, probate, tax, landlord and tenant,
and traffic.
Both the D.C. Court of Appeals and the
Superior Court of the District of Columbia (collectively
referred to as the "D.C. Courts") can trace
their origins to the first judicial body created for the
District of Columbia in 1801, one year after the District
itself was established by Congress. From 1801 to 1970
the District's judicial system underwent many changes,
not only to the composition and jurisdiction of the courts,
but also to their names. These include justices of the
peace, the Municipal Court, the D.C. Court of General
Sessions, the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia,
the Juvenile Court, and on the appellate level, the Municipal
Court of Appeals.
References
Here are some documents with the history of the District
of Columbia Courts and their predecessors:
Hearings of the Committee on the District of Columbia
and the Committee on the Judiciary, United States
Senate, 1969.
"The State of the District of Columbia Court of
Appeals," Theodore R. Newman, Jr., 27 Catholic
University Law Review 453.
Voorhees, Theodore "The District of Columbia Courts:
A Judicial Anomaly," 29 Catholic University
Law Review 918.
Moultrie, H. Carl "The District of Columbia Superior
Court," 28 Catholic U.L. Rev. 717.
Morris, Jeffrey Brandon, Calmly to Poise the Scales
of Justice: A History of the Courts of the District of
Columbia Circuit (Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic
Press, 2001).
Biography of Chief Judge H. Carl Moultrie I
H. Carl Moultrie I was appointed an Associate Judge of
the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1972.
Six years later, on June 22, 1978, he was appointed the
court's first African American Chief Judge. He held that
position until his death on April 9, 1986.
Chief Judge H. Carl Moultrie I was born April 3, 1915,
in Tampa, Florida and was reared in Charleston, South
Carolina. In 1936, he received an A.B. degree from Lincoln
University in Oxford, Pennsylvania and two years later,
he received a degree in Sacred Theology. In 1952, he received
an M.A. from New York University. He received his law
degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1956.
In 1957, he joined the law firm of Cobb, Howard, Hayes
and Windsor and practiced law until his judicial appointment.
Many innovations were introduced at the court during
Chief Judge Moultrie's tenure. One of his first
initiatives was to establish the practice of designating
a presiding judge to oversee the management of each operating
division of the court. Another innovation was the establishment
of the pilot project that later became the Multi-Door
Dispute Resolution Division. Chief Judge Moultrie was
one of the first judges in the District of Columbia to
order a videotaped confession into evidence. He was instrumental
in lifting the glass ceiling for women and minorities.
Chief Judge Moultrie developed a reputation as a hard,
but fair judge who was seldom reversed. He received innumerable
honors and awards from community organizations. In recognition
of the unique leadership of Chief Judge H. Carl Moultrie,
the Joint Committee on Judicial Administration in the
District of Columbia named in his honor the courthouse
that is located at 500 Indiana Avenue, N.W.
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