When any dispute arises between individuals or corporations the lawyers who bring the suit determine whether the matter is one for the federal or the state courts to hear. This they do by considering whether the controversy comes within any of the classes named in the constitutional provision just mentioned. If they find that it does, the suit is usually commenced in the federal courts; otherwise it is begun in the state courts. Most suits begin in the lowest court, and, if the decision is not satisfactory, can be carried on appeal to the higher federal or state courts as the case may be, until finally a very small proportion of them reach the Supreme Court.[141] But not all cases which are heard in the lower federal courts, or in the state courts, can be brought up to the Supreme Court of the United States. If that were permitted, the Supreme Court would never be able to handle all the business which would come before it. From the lower federal courts only cases of great importance can be brought to it, and from the state courts only controversies in which some provision of the national constitution is involved. =The Lower Federal Courts.=—The lower federal courts are called district and circuit courts. The country is divided into about one hundred judicial districts, in each of which there is a United States district court with a judge, a marshall, and a district attorney, all appointed by the President. Next above these courts are the circuit courts of appeals. There are nine of these courts, each having jurisdiction within a certain section of the country. A circuit court of appeals has from two to four judges, appointed by the President, and also has its own court officials. These courts derive their name from the fact that they go “on circuit”, that is, they move about from one large city to another within their respective sections of the country holding sessions in each. In most cases they have final jurisdiction.[142] THE LAW =What is Meant by the Law.=—Having outlined the organization and jurisdiction of the federal courts, the question next arises: What branches of law do American courts administer? We often speak of the courts as administering “justice ”, and it is no doubt true that their decisions usually@ possess the quality of justice; but what the courts really administer is _the law_. The law may be just or unjust, and it is very difficult, if not impossible, for any court to wring justice out of an unjust law. Where injustice is done, the law and not the court is in most cases to blame. [Sidenote: How the common law developed.]