Which courts have the authority to issue a distress warrant?

The authority to issue a distress warrant is typically held by Justice of the Peace (JP) courts. These courts are designed to handle lower-level civil matters, including landlord-tenant disputes, which often involve issues related to distress or the ability to seize items to satisfy a judgment.

The nature of distress warrants relates closely to the functions of JP courts as they directly address issues concerning tenant rights and the recovery of possessions in civil disputes. JP courts are more localized and accessible for these types of issues, which is why they are vested with the power to issue such warrants.

While circuit courts, district courts, and supreme courts deal with a variety of more complex or higher-level criminal and civil cases, they typically do not engage in the straightforward, smaller scope matters involving distress warrants in the same direct way that JP courts do. Thus, the authority is specifically within the domain of JP courts for issuing this type of warrant.