3-5-303. Appellate jurisdiction. The district court has appellate jurisdiction in cases arising in justices' courts and other courts of limited jurisdiction in their respective districts as may be prescribed by law and consistent with the constitution.
Montana Code Annotated
Mont. Code Ann. § 3-5-303 (2026)
Appellate Jurisdiction
✓ current as of May 2026
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TITLE 3. JUDICIARY, COURTS
CHAPTER 5. DISTRICT COURTS
Part 3. District Court Jurisdiction
Appellate Jurisdiction
History: En. Sec. 42, C. Civ. Proc. 1895; re-en. Sec. 6276, Rev. C. 1907; re-en. Sec. 8830, R.C.M. 1921; Cal. C. Civ. Proc. Sec. 77; re-en. Sec. 8830, R.C.M. 1935; R.C.M. 1947, 93-319; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 466, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 277, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 430, L. 2019.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 78
cases (20 in the last 5 years), 1985–2026 · leading case: State v. Feight, 2001 MT 205 (Mont. 2001).
State v. Feight, 2001 MT 205 (Mont. 2001). “¶ 13 Section 3-5-303, MCA, provides: Except as provided in XX-XX-XXX, the district court has appellate jurisdiction in cases arising in justices' courts and other courts of limited jurisdiction in their respective districts as may be prescribed by law and consistent with the…”
Stanley v. Lemire, 2006 MT 304 (Mont. 2006). “¶36 Section 3-5-303, MCA (2003) vests the district courts with appellate jurisdiction “in cases arising in justices’ courts and other courts of limited jurisdiction in their respective districts as may be prescribed by law and consistent with the constitution.”
State v. Liefert, 2002 MT 48 (Mont. 2002). “¶ 35 In Justice Regnier's dissent in Feight , in which Justice Trieweiler and I joined, Justice Regnier concluded that the general right to appeal found in § 46-20-104, MCA, and § 3-5-303, MCA, should have controlled the disposition of that case, in light of the fact that none…”
State v. L. Akers, 2017 MT 311 (Mont. 2017). “The District Court denied Akers’s motion to dismiss, affirmed the Justice Court’s judgment, and remanded the case to the Justice Court to enforce its judgment.”
State v. Kempin, 2001 MT 313 (Mont. 2001). “Section 3-5-303, MCA, provides that the district court has appellate jurisdiction in cases arising in justices' courts and other courts of limited jurisdiction in their respective districts as may be prescribed by law and consistent with the constitution, except as provided in §…”
State v. Sharp, 702 P.2d 959 (Mont. 1985). “Section 3-5-303, MCA. In the District Court, after trial, Sharp was found " not guilty of the offense of driving while under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor.”
State v. Boucher, 2002 MT 114 (Mont. 2002). “In my view, defendants are entitled to appeal a justice court's denial of their motion to withdraw a guilty plea pursuant to §§ 3-5-303 and 46-20-104, MCA, as outlined in my dissent in Feight .”
State v. S. Hoover, 2017 MT 236 (Mont. 2017). “Katherine Curtis presiding, affirmed the Justice Court ruling, concluding that sufficient particularized suspicion of criminal activity existed to temporarily detain Hoover for questioning prior to arrest.”
State v. McClelland, 2015 MT 281 (Mont. 2015). “The District Court denied McClelland’s claims that he had not received sufficient notice of the witnesses who testified at the restitution hearing and that he should have had access to the mental health treatment form.”
State v. Smith, 2004 MT 191 (Mont. 2004). “We concluded in that case, however, that § 46-20-104, MCA, was inapposite because §§ 3-5-303, 46-17-203, 46-17-311, and 46-12-204, MCA, were the "specific" code sections which provided for and defined the parameters of the jurisdiction of a district court to entertain appeals…”
City of Missoula v. J. Williams, 2017 MT 282 (Mont. 2017). “” The District Court declined to address Williams’s additional argument “[b]ecause this issue was not previously raised and the municipal court had no opportunity to rule on the issue .”
State v. Barker, 858 P.2d 360 (Mont. 1993). “Additionally, the court referred to § 3-5-303, MCA, which provides for district court appellate jurisdiction over justice court decisions “as may be prescribed by law and consistent with the constitution.”
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