State General Jurisdiction

• The primary trial courts in a state judicial system are courts of general jurisdiction, which enables judges to hear both civil and criminal cases. In these cases, a judge considers issues of law while a jury determines issues of fact that are raised during the trial. Trial courts are known by several names depending upon the state where the court is located. They may be known as circuit, superior or common pleas courts. Every state trial court maintains a record of the total court proceedings for possible appeal, stated by the website U.S. Courts.
  
  

Federal Original Jurisdiction

• Federal district courts are the trial courts in the federal court system, and have the authority to hear cases that are based upon a dispute of either federal law or the U.S. Constitution, or both. These federal trial courts are called courts of original jurisdiction, which means that the majority of federal cases originate in a federal court. Every state has at least one federal court, a state like California has four geographically located federal courts. The number of federal judges in each court can range from two to as many as 28.
  
  

Limited Jurisdiction Trial Courts

• Trial courts in both the state as well as the federal court systems have courts of limited jurisdiction that authorize them to hear only those cases which state or federal law confers upon them. For example, federal tax courts and bankruptcy courts are only authorized to hear cases in those specific areas. On the state level, trial courts of limited jurisdiction can only hear specific cases, such as traffic, juvenile, small claims, family matters or probate concerns. The majority of these cases are heard without a jury present, as stated by the website U.S. Courts
  
  

Subject Matter and Personal Jurisdiction

• In order for a state or federal trial court to hear a case, it must have legal jurisdiction over both the person bringing the case and the subject matter. The court is constitutionally required to have legal authority to exercise its authority over the defendant in the case. In addition, the court cannot consider a case where state or federal law, or the U.S. Constitution, does not give it the subject matter authority to hear the case. There are instances where parties may waive personal jurisdiction and allow the court to hear the case, yet subject matter jurisdictional authority cannot be waived and the case must be dismissed.