State court disorganization stems from incremental expansion to meet population growth
Evidence
Historical factors generally account for the organizational complexity found in state court systems. In creating their court systems, most states designed them to serve a relatively sparse and predominantly rural citizenry. Over time, urbanization and population growth produced new demands for court services. In some states constitutional amendments were adopted to modernize the court system, but these amendments themselves frequently were outpaced by subsequent development, requiring further changes. In other states the legislatures responded not by overhauling the existing court structure but by creating additional trial courts to satisfy those demands. Thus, in contrast to the federal court system, whose basic structure was largely established in 1789, many state court systems reflect the continuing pattern of demand and response that occurred in the state. Typically, new state trial courts were added with little consideration of their impact on the overall coherence of the judicial system; the result was a multiplicity of separate courts, reflecting no underlying organizational principle. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 336
Categorization
- XREF: Institutional accretion as patchwork adaptation parallels similar devolution-by-accretion patterns in other bodies like presidential cabinets and bureaucracies. — connects to: State courts evolved by piecemeal court creation into complex systems now being consolidated — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 458; States historically added piecemeal courts, prompting later consolidation reforms — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 350; Government expansion, not activist judges, explains the growth of judicial policymaking. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1499 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- State courts evolved by piecemeal court creation into complex systems now being consolidated
#expands(0.92) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 458 - States historically added piecemeal courts, prompting later consolidation reforms
#expands(0.90) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 350 - Formalizing law expands the judiciary into an omnipresent public service
#complicates(0.73) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 945 - Government expansion, not activist judges, explains the growth of judicial policymaking.
#qualifies(0.72) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1499