Lower courts are specialized by subject and handle only minor cases.

Evidence

At the bottom, the broadest part of the pyramid, there is a network of lower courts, dotted all over the state and sprinkled about municipal areas. These courts handle the least serious offenses and the smallest claims. They have various names: justice courts, small claims courts, traffic courts, police courts, municipal courts, mayor’s courts. Many of them are somewhat specialized: traffic courts stick to traffic cases; police courts deal only with petty offenses (you cannot sue your landlord or get a divorce in police court); small claims courts never touch traffic offenses or cases of drunkenness. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 288

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the jurisdictional map of state lower courts — the structural vocabulary the reader is looking for.
• XREF: connects to: Subject matter jurisdiction is a discrete threshold matter in federal courts — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1174

Broader Connections

• Subject matter jurisdiction is a discrete threshold matter in federal courts #expands (0.78) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1174