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394 Edyta Sokalskalaws of the state. Cases involving the state’s criminal laws, civil code, orstate constitution fall within the judicial power of the state. Laws regulatingmarriage, corporations, real estate, insurance, and education are just a fewcategories of law within the state’s authority 40 .Courts of general jurisdiction tend to be the major trial courts of thestate. Usually, the state legislature divides the state into numbered judicialdistricts that have definite boundaries. These boundaries may coincide withcounty lines, consists of several counties, or even disregard county lines.Most judicial districts have a single judge assigned to each unit; some ofthem are multijudge districts. The judges may agree to specialize by allowingone judge to hear only criminal cases, and another to hear only civilcases. This specialization is typical in large metropolitan areas 41 .There is a layer of trial courts below the circuit or superior courts levelwhich exercise limited general jurisdiction in many states. In many casesthey have jurisdiction over all types of civil cases up to a certain amount ofmoney 42 . The civil jurisdiction of district courts has no upper limit as to theamount in controversy. Lawsuits may run into millions of dollars and casescan range from the typical divorce case to multimillion dollar tort. Thismight show the importance of the state courts. Even if the stakes are high,the state courts are as not less important than the federal courts.The second component of the state courts are state courts of limitedjurisdiction called also trial courts with specialized jurisdiction. All stateshave their jurisdiction specialized in some way. Among the are probate orsurrogate’s courts (for juvenile matters, for mental commitments and guardianshipsover adults unable to handle their cases, for overseeing distributionof descendants’ estates), courts of claims to handle money claims againstthe state and juvenile courts (if juvenile matters are not handled by theprobate court). In same states the courts with specialized subject matterjurisdiction are considered equal to the superior courts of general jurisdiction.In different states specialized courts are considered inferior to thecircuit or superior court. Courts of limited jurisdiction are created to handlecases of a limited or specialized nature 43 .The municipal court is one of the most common courts of limited jurisdiction.Their main function is to hear cases involving traffic violation withinthe city limits. They often have jurisdiction over cases involving violations ofcity ordinances. Ordinance power of the city means the power to enact lawsenforceable within the city limits. Such laws include prohibitions against40 R.A. Carp, R. Stidham, The Federal Courts, Congressional Quarterly Press, WashingtonD.C. 1998, p. 250.41 J.V. Calvi, S. Coleman, op. cit., p. 70.42 Such cases are often called as misdemeanors.43 A.B. Morrison, op.cit., p. 58.