Just this question has come up and been answered before -- along with quite a number of related phrases.

You should refer to the glossaries at this web-site for the maximum amoung of information.

The answer given then was "Court of First Instance and Preliminary Investigation" and was backed up with a convincing citation showing it to be a time-honoured phrase.

Another possible answer (relevant to the situation in Anglos-saxon countries is "magistrate's court".

But a "magistrate's court" is the functionally equivalent entity in Anglo-saxon countries. It does not translate the Spanish term.

I feel that it is best in this case to translate the Spanish term with an English translation that deviates as little as possible from the source text.

While a "Court of First Instance and Preliminary Investigation" might fulfill more or less the same function as a "magistrate's court" they are not at all the same thing because of the different overall structure of legal systems in non-anglo-saxon countries.

The citation given by the successful answerer previously was as follows:-

"From 1834 Sant Feliu led the judicial district and, little by little, became an administrative town with all kind of services such as the *court of first instance and preliminary investigation*, the notary's office, the land register office, etc. During the second half of the last century the textile industrialization took place, and more concretely the factories Dertrand (1861), Solà-Sert (1883) and Angel Vila (1894). This industrial section diversified throughout the 20th century with the chemical and metallurgical industries and the construction.

www.santfeliu.org/p-ciut-i.htm

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Note added at 2002-09-11 02:08:22 (GMT)
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The answerer on that previous occasion (Apr 2 10:32am) was \"Parrot\".