U.S. Constitution Articles I, II, and III

State Jurisdiction Case Examples The following list of examples of cases within the jurisdiction of the state court is obtained from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts on behalf of the Federal Judiciary. It is a concise list of types of cases and how they relate to the federal jurisdiction.

Note that no state court structure is identical to another state, but there are some consistent similarities that can be identified. State courts usually maintain jurisdiction over:

  1. Cases involving the state constitution - cases involving the interpretation of a state constitution.
  2. State criminal offenses - crimes defined and/or punished by the state constitution or applicable state statute. Most crimes are state criminal offenses. They include offenses such as murder, theft, breaking and entering, and destruction of property.
  3. Tort and personal injury law - Civil wrongs for which a remedy may be obtained, usually in the form of damages; a break of duty that the law imposes on everyone in the same relation to one another as those involved in a given transaction.
  4. Contract law - Agreements between two or more parties creating obligations that are either enforceable or otherwise recognized as law.
  5. Probate - The judicial process by which a testamentary document is established to be a valid will, the proving of a will to the satisfaction of a court, the distribution of a decedent's assets according to the provisions of the will, or the process whereby a decedent's assets are distributed according to state law should the descendant have died intestate.
  6. Family - The body of law dealing with marriage, divorce, adoption, child custody and support, and domestic-relations issues.
  7. Sale of goods - the law concerning the sale of goods (moveable objects) involved in commerce (especially with regards to the Uniform Commercial Code).
  8. Corporations and business organizations - the law concerning, among other things, the establishment, dissolution, and asset distribution of corporations, partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, etc.
  9. Election issues - the law concerning voter registration, voting in general, legislative reappointment, etc.
  10. Municipal/zoning ordinances - the law involving municipal ordinances, including zoning ordinances that set aside certain areas for residential, commercial, industrial, or other development.
  11. Traffic regulation - a prescribed rule of conduct for traffic; a rule intended to promote the orderly and safe flow of traffic.
  12. Real property - land and anything growing on, attached to, or erected on it, excluding anything that may be served without injury to the land.