Puertos Rico Judicial System

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Puerto Rico: An Emerging Judiciary Judicial Process The island of Puerto Rico was once a U.S. territory but after some major actions by the United States finally became the 51st state in the Union on September 19, 2012. Of course, there are going to be quite a few things changing within Puerto Rico as it will now in most sense start to come together and in line with other states such as are found within the United States. One such thing will be that of laws that will govern Puerto Rico. How will the newly formed state set up it courts, its judicial system in essence. However, it should be made clear that with the passing of their constitution, which “was approved and formally adopted by the Congress of the United States in 1952,” Puerto Rico has already been on the proverbial road to statehood. Puerto Rico’s “Constitution was based on the United States Constitution…and adopted a republican form of government, with three sets and distinct branches: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branch” (Suarez, 2008). Ultimately the question is how will Puerto Rico change and adapt to future as well as current courtroom cases as it evolves into statehood as seen in most states throughout the country. Before getting into certain aspects of how the new system will be set up it is important to note some of the distinct traits of Puerto Rico. Being an island, Puerto Rico is smaller than the size of Connecticut however much larger than Delaware or Rhode Island individually or, even if combined as one single state. Puerto Rico’s population from last estimates in 2010 was roughly 3,725,789 million which will make it the 27th most populated state within the territories of the United States (Wikipedia, 2009). Puerto Rico currently has 78 municipalities which fall somewhere between city and county in comparison. As Puerto Rico’s system of
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