Courts

Bankruptcy Courts in the United States Bankruptcy is one of the most important areas of federal law in the United States. When an individual cannot pay debts, when a business becomes financially distressed, or when creditors need a legally controlled process for recovering what they are owed, bankruptcy law provides Read more

State Courts vs. Federal Courts in Practice The United States does not have one single court system. It has a federal judiciary operating alongside the judicial systems of the individual states. For an ordinary person, this distinction can initially seem abstract. There are federal courts and state courts, federal judges Read more

Specialized State Courts State court systems in the United States are not organized according to a single national blueprint. Each state establishes its own judicial structure through its constitution, statutes, court rules, and administrative arrangements. As a result, states may create courts or judicial divisions designed to handle particular types Read more

State Courts of Limited Jurisdiction State courts of limited jurisdiction are courts whose authority is restricted to particular categories of cases, proceedings, claims, amounts in controversy, geographic areas, or types of legal remedies. They are an important part of many state judicial systems and often provide the first judicial forum Read more

State Supreme Courts State supreme courts occupy the highest level of the judicial hierarchy within the individual states of the United States. Although they are commonly called “supreme courts,” they are not part of the federal judiciary and are fundamentally different institutions from the Supreme Court of the United States. Read more

State Intermediate Appellate Courts State intermediate appellate courts occupy an important position in the American judicial system. They stand between state trial courts and the state’s highest court, where such a two-level appellate structure exists. Their central function is to review decisions made by lower courts and determine whether legal Read more

State Trial Courts State trial courts are the foundation of the state judicial systems of the United States. They are generally the courts where legal disputes begin, evidence is presented, witnesses testify, factual issues are determined, and initial judgments are entered. Although every state has trial-level courts, there is no Read more

How State Court Systems Are Organized The United States does not have one uniform state court system. Each state has its own judiciary, established under its own constitution and laws. As a result, the structure of state courts can vary significantly from one state to another. Despite these differences, most Read more

What Are State Courts? State courts are the judicial institutions created and maintained by the individual states of the United States. They form the largest and most frequently used part of the American judicial system. While the federal courts exercise judicial power under the Constitution and federal statutes, state courts Read more