Court System

Trial Courts
Intermediate Appellate Court
Court of Last Resort

While every state has courts at these 3 levels; trial, appellate and court of last resort, the actual names of the courts may be different in different states. 

The trial court is the first level in the court system. In actual operation, the trial court may have numerous subdivisions and special branches (e.g., probate, family court, small claims court, etc.) but every jurisdiction has a trial court of general jurisdiction at which most disputes are initially adjudicated. A trial judge's ruling on an issue of law can be appealed to the court at the intermediate level on the diagram. In some cases, after the determination of an appeal in the intermediate appeal court, a second appeal may be taken, this time from the intermediate appellate court to the court of last resort. The federal system has courts, which are parallel to those in the fifty states. Thus, on the federal level; trial courts are U.S. District Courts; the intermediate appellate courts are U.S. Court of Appeals; and the court of last resort is the U.S. Supreme Court.

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