Hello, I’m Zhan Qingyun.

Last time we entered a frustrating subject that may make people wonder whether law truly wants to deliver justice. Before wielding law, one must first identify the court in which to do so.

Every court has limited jurisdiction.

The common-sense starting point is territoriality: events are usually litigated where they occur.

Exceptions are more interesting, including China’s longstanding practice of transferring sensitive cases away from their locality.

To show the complexity, we introduced America’s state and federal courts.

Why does this dual system exist? Begin at the beginning.

The United States is a federation. After winning independence from Britain, Americans feared strong central government and did not immediately adopt today’s Constitution.

Their first governing document was the Articles of Confederation.

Though nominally constitutional, it resembled a treaty among independent states or a multilateral convention, reserving extensive autonomy to each state.

The system had no federal judiciary.

Each state retained its own law and courts, avoiding today’s complex choice between judicial systems.

But the simple arrangement had problems: states were reluctant to enforce national obligations.

After the Revolutionary War, the United States and Britain remained formally at war until the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

America made important promises in exchange for British recognition.

During the war, some Americans remained Loyalists supporting the Crown, and revolutionary governments confiscated much of their land.

Congress promised in the treaty that Loyalist property would be restored.

This was a national treaty recognized by Congress.

Yet enforcement at home proved difficult. Without federal courts, disputes had to be resolved in individual state courts.

State institutions answered to local voters, especially then. Many states openly opposed and refused to implement the treaty, and their courts followed.

The Constitution of 1787 responded by creating an independent federal judiciary: a complete structure of district courts, courts of appeals, and a Supreme Court.

Federal-law questions would henceforth be resolved federally rather than delegated to states.

This reflects a defining American division of power—not only legislative, executive, and judicial separation,