Terms Used In Alabama Code 15-11-2

  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
  • Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1

The district court shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction to hold preliminary hearings in prosecutions for felonies.

A preliminary hearing determination by the district court finding no probable cause shall not be res judicata with respect to the issue of probable cause, and the state shall not be barred from proceeding further.