§ 22.1.1 STRUCTURE.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 22.1.1 Structure. The justice of the peace courts (justice courts) were created by Ariz. Const. art. 6, § 1. The office of justice of the peace is a county office. Hellman v. Marquardt, 111 Ariz. 95, 98, 523 P.2d 792, 795 (1974).

Justice courts have defined boundaries known as "justice precincts." A.R.S.
§ 22-101. A justice court precinct is distinct from the more commonly known term "election precinct," which is Arizona's basic building block for political boundaries. See A.R.S. § 16-411(A).

A county board of supervisors determines the compensation of a justice of the peace and the configuration of a justice court precinct from a statutory formula computing "judicial productivity credits" (JPCs). JPCs are computed based upon the court's civil, traffic, and criminal filings, as compiled by the Arizona Supreme Court's Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). See A.R.S. § 22-125. These computations are made in even-numbered years, using average annual filings from the immediately preceding two-year period ending on December 31 of odd-numbered years. A.R.S. § 22-125(C).

The compensation for a justice of the peace is tied to the precinct's JPCs and based on a percentage of superior court judge compensation as follows:

70% in a precinct with 500 or more JPCs;

65% in a precinct with 200 to 499 JPCs;

55% in a precinct with 150 to 199 JPCs;

50% in a precinct with 100 to 149 JPCs;

45% in a precinct with 50 to 99 JPCs;

35% in a precinct with 25 to 49 JPCs; and

25% in a precinct with 24 or fewer JPCs.

A.R.S. § 22-125(D). If the total JPCs exceed 1,200 for any justice court precinct, the board of supervisors must create sufficient courts or redraw the boundaries of justice court precincts to reduce the JPCs for the precinct that exceeds the limit. A.R.S. § 22-125(H). A high-growth county like Maricopa County frequently redraws justice court precinct boundaries or creates new precincts to comply with the 1,200 JPC limitation.

Some guesswork is required if a county must redraw justice court precinct boundaries to reduce JPCs, because JPCs are not tracked according to address. Generally, freeway traffic (reflecting traffic citations by the Arizona Department of Public Safety) and multi-family housing or commercial development (reflecting eviction and forcible entry and detainer filings) heavily influence justice court caseloads, causing boundary amendments in high-growth areas. In counties where two or more justice courts are located, the justices periodically...