Definition
The judicial tribunals organized and maintained by the individual states of the United States, as distinguished from the federal courts established under Article III of the Constitution. Each state operates its own independent court system, with its own tribunal of last resort (typically called a supreme court), intermediate appellate courts, and a variety of trial-level and specialized courts below. The structure, nomenclature, jurisdiction, method of judicial selection, and terms of office for these courts are determined entirely by state law — constitutional provisions, statutes, and court rules — and vary significantly from state to state.
Why It Matters in Research
The phrase "courts of the states" appears frequently in federal constitutional and statutory contexts, where the distinction between state and federal court systems carries legal consequence. Researchers must be alert to several navigational challenges:
Nomenclature is treacherous. The highest court in New York is called the Court of Appeals; the Supreme Court of New York is a trial court. Maryland and other states use "Court of Special Appeals" and "Court of Appeals" in ways that invert expectations. When reading historical sources, do not assume that a court's name signals its hierarchical position.
Jurisdictional boundaries shifted over time. The relationship between state courts and federal courts — concurrent jurisdiction, removal, abstention, and the obligation of state courts to apply federal law — evolved through constitutional doctrine and statute across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Historical sources describing state court jurisdiction may not account for later federal preemption or doctrinal change.
Specialized courts multiplied in the modern era. Family courts, probate courts, drug courts, and juvenile courts now exist in most states, but their configuration differs widely. Anderson's observation about non-uniformity remains as accurate today as when written. Researchers working across jurisdictions should not assume that a specialized court in one state has any analogue in another.
For admiralty and maritime researchers, the Saving to Suitors Clause (28 U.S.C. § 1333) expressly preserves concurrent jurisdiction in state courts for certain claims, making "courts of the states" a live category in federal maritime practice, not merely a constitutional abstraction.
Historical Dictionary Support
Anderson's Dictionary of Law captures the essential structural reality concisely: there is no uniformity among the states as to the number, name, or organization of their courts. Each state has some tribunal of last resort with subordinate tribunals below it, but everything else — creation, jurisdiction, judicial selection, terms of office, duties — is left to state law. This remains the controlling principle today.
Anderson's entry trails off before completing its enumeration of court names, but the incompleteness itself is instructive: even a legal dictionary of the period found the catalogue too variable to reduce to a clean list. The historical source does not address the jurisdictional interplay between state and federal courts, the Supremacy Clause's effect on state court obligations, or the rise of specialized court systems — all of which are essential to modern research in this area.
Jurisdictional Note
Because each state constitutes its own judicial system, "courts of the states" is not a uniform category in practice. Researchers must consult the specific state's constitutional and statutory framework for questions of court structure, jurisdiction, and appellate procedure. Federal law imposes some floor of obligation on state courts — including the duty to apply federal constitutional law and, in certain contexts, to give effect to federal statutes — but the architecture of the state system itself remains wholly a matter of state law.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Law Mind Military, Veterans & Admiralty Law Encyclopedia: Saving to Suitors Clause — Concurrent State Court Jurisdiction and Jury Trial Rights
The Law Mind Family Law Encyclopedia: Family Court Jurisdiction and Unified Family Courts