used for courts already in 17th century Sweden, but was later discontinued. It's the court of first instance; dealing with criminal cases, some civil law disputes and a number of non-contentious matters. Private cases against decisions by the public authorities are generally handled by the tingsrätt or the förvaltningsrätt (administrative court), depending on the authority in question. In 1971, the tingsrätts became the district courts of Sweden, replacing the previous distinction between rådhusrätt in larger cities and häradsrätt for other parts of the country. Later reforms have substantially reduced the number of these courts from around 100 to currently (2014) 48. Appeals against a district court are made to the appellate court (). United Kingdom Scotland District courts were introduced in 1975 as replacement for the burgh police courts; they dealt with the most minor crimes. They were run by the local authorities. Each court comprised one or more justices of the peace (lay magistrates) who sat alone or in threes with a qualified legal assessor as convener or clerk of court. They handled many cases of breach of the peace, drunkenness, minor assaults, petty theft, and offences under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. District courts operated under summary procedure and could not impose a fine in excess of £2,500 or sentence an offender to more than 60 days in prison. In practice, most offences were dealt with by a fine. District courts in Scotland were abolished and replaced with justice of the peace courts under the provisions of the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007. The justice of the peace courts are managed by the Scottish Court Service. Responsibility for the courts was transferred from the local authorities in a rolling programme of court unification which concluded in February 2010. District courts were replaced by JP courts in sheriffdoms as follows: Sheriffdom of Lothian and Borders, 10 March 2008 Sheriffdom of Grampian, Highlands and Islands, 2 June 2008 Sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin, 8 December 2008 Sheriffdom of Tayside, Central and Fife, 23 February 2009 Sheriffdom of North Strathclyde, 14 December 2009 Sheriffdom of South Strathclyde, Dumfries & Galloway, 22 February 2010 References External links Finnish district courts United States district courts United States District Courts in each state Courts by type