The Wisconsin Statutes gave cities, villages, and towns authority to establish municipal courts. Municipal courts are an independent branch of government.

 

The municipal court has exclusive jurisdiction over civil matters involving violation of municipal ordinances. The courts have concurrent jurisdiction with juvenile court for children 12 and over who are charged with a municipal ordinance or children of any age accused of habitual truancy. There is no jury. The majority of the matters before a municipal judge involve traffic, parking, and ordinance matters, including first time drunk driving offenses. Other common areas include: underage alcohol, building code violations, disorderly conduct, trespass, health code violations, and animal control violations. 

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A municipal judge has specific powers granted by our Wisconsin Statutes. A municipal judge has the power to take various actions based on the facts of each matter, including but not limited to: issue civil warrants, issue inspection warrants of properties for ordinance violations, issue subpoenas, suspend driver's license, pay a forfeiture or restitution. 

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• Check out the Wisconsin Courts website for more information about municipal courts: https://www.wicourts.gov/courts/municipal/index.htm. 

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• The Wisconsin Justice Initative has lots of great information on its website about municipal courts: https://www.wjiinc.org/milwaukee-county-municipal-courts.html.