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Federalism and the American court organization381union. The United States underwent a confederate form of government inthe period between 1781 and 1788.In a federal system all governmental powers are divided betweena national government and several state (province, canton, land, etc.) governmentswith the exception of the concurrent powers exercised by thecentral government 3 . That system combines the advantages of the unitarysystem and the confederate system, and inherently involves exceedinglycomplex intergovernmental relations. In addition, it may suffer from somedisadvantages of the two systems. The distribution is made by means ofa written constitution, the national government and each state governmentin theory are supreme within the irrespective fields, and each possesses itsconcurrent powers 4 .In 1968 professor Carl J. Friedrich of Harvard University defined federalismas “the process by which a number of separate political communitiesenter into arrangements for working out solutions, adopting joint policies,and making joint decisions on joint problems, and conversely, also the processby which a unitary political community becomes differentiated intoa federally organized whole” 5 .For Daniel J. Elazar of Temple University federalism can be defined as”the mode of political organization that unites smaller polities in an overarchingpolitical system by distributing power among general and constituentgovernments in a manner designed to protect the existence and authority ofboth” 6 .Professor Richard H. Leach of Duke University reveals that “federalismtook root as well in the working relationship that evolved between theEnglish crown and government and colonies during the colonial period. Isolatedgeographically from England, the colonies were tied governmentally tothe mother country only loosely, and the nature of the ties varied from timeto time and from colony to colony. Nor was a successful attempt ever made torationalize and formalize the relationship” 7 .Supporters of the federal system show some of its advantages. Uniformityof policy and administration can be achieved in national affairs to theextend needed while the states retain control over their respective internalaffairs. High costs that may be associated with nationally uniform policiesare avoided. The retention of a number of powers by the states act as3 For the point of view of Larry N. Gerston see L.N. Gerston, American Federalism.A Concise Introduction, M. E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York 2007, p. 5–6.4 J.F. Zimmerman, op. cit., p. 5.5 C.J. Friedrich, Trends of Federalism in Theory and Practice, Frederick A. Praeger Publishers,New York 1968, p. 7.6 D.J. Elazar, American Federalism: a View from the States, Thomas Y. Crowell Company,New York 1984, p. 2.7 R.H. Leach, American Federalism, W.W. Norton and Company, New York 1970, p. 2.