The American court system is known as a dual court system, with both courts at the federal level and the state level. Discusses the federal court system. It begins with a history of the federal court system and then describes the role of U.S. Magistrate judges, the U.S. Courts of Appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court, and finally the various specialized Federal Courts. The various types of courts have a responsibility to hear cases that are within their "jurisdiction." Jurisdiction refers to the power of a court to decide on a dispute. A court's jurisdiction can be classified according to four subcomponents: geographical jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and hierarchical jurisdiction.