Virginia Legal Research

Courts in Virginia

District Courts

Like most states, the district courts are split into Civil and Criminal divisions. There are 32 districts in Virginia and each has two basic courts: the General District Court and the Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court. These are courts of limited jurisdiction, meaning they are restricted in what kinds of cases they can hear.

• The General District Court may hold trials for (1.) civil cases where the amount of money in dispute is less than $25,000, (2.) criminal cases where the charges are misdemeanors, and (3.) traffic infractions. Va. Code Ann. § 16.1-77.
• The Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court hears cases that involve children and families, including, but not limited to (1.) child custody, (2.) child abuse or neglect, (3.) juvenile criminal or traffic infractions, and (4.) domestic violence. Va. Code Ann. § 16.1 Ch. 11 Art. 3.

Circuit Courts

There are Circuit Courts located in each City and County in Virginia that take cases outside of the District Courts' jurisdiction. The courts have jurisdiction (per Va. Code Ann. § 17.1-513) over:

• Civil cases over $25,000, although it may take civil cases with claims between $4,500 and $25,000 from the District Courts. 
• Criminal cases for felony charges. A crime is a felony if it is "punishable with death or confinement in a state correctional facility." Va. Code. Ann. § 18.2-8 (2016). 
• Family and Divorce cases 
• Appeals from decisions of both the General District Courts and the Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court.
• Appeals from decisions of administrative agencies.

Court of Appeals of Virginia

The Court of Appeals has seventeen judges who generally sit in 3-judge panels to hear appeals from the lower courts. Like most appellate-level courts, it has some cases which it must hear and some that it can choose to hear. While appeals of criminal, traffic, concealed weapons permit, and certain preliminary rulings in felony cases are presented by a petition for appeal--which means the judges decide if they wish to hear the case--all other appeals to the Court of Appeals are a matter of right.

Supreme Court of Virginia

The Supreme Court of Virginia has seven Justices, who hear appeals from cases that have exhausted the lower courts. There are only three types of cases that the Supreme Court must hear--what is called 'a matter of right':

• Cases where the death penalty has been imposed (increasingly rare as Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021)
• Cases involving the State Corporation Commission
• Appeals of disciplinary sanctions imposed by the Virginia State Bar

Appellants for any decisions not considered "final" from the Court of Appeals can petition the Supreme Court. For the most part, traffic, misdemeanor, domestic cases, and review of agency decisions decided by the Court of Appeals are final decisions and cannot be appealed to the Supreme Court. 

There are few matters that the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over, meaning the case is sent directly to that court without having to go to a lower court first. Generally, cases involving judicial discipline, matters involving habeas corpus where detained persons can ask the Court to review if their detention is legal, writs of mandamus and prohibition to compel public officers to perform or stop performing their duties, and petitions asserting actual innocence where a person convicted of a crime has DNA evidence exonerating them, may go to the Court directly.