The State Constitutions differ fundamentally from that of the United States in respect to the nature of the judicial establishment. Each of the States possesses all judicial powers belonging to any sovereignty, except so far as the people of the United States may have provided otherwise in the Constitution of the United States. The State Constitutions do not define those powers. They simply commit them to certain courts and officers. Their general language is that the judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court and such other inferior courts as may be created by law. On the other hand, the Constitution of the United States defines the judicial powers of the United States exactly and within a somewhat narrow range, investing the courts of the United States with those powers and no others. Hence the States require a much more complicated and extensive judicial establishment than do the United States, for not only is the great mass of litigated cases throughout the country to be disposed of by State courts, but they must also pass upon by far the greatest variety of legal questions. In each State there is one appellate court of last resort[Footnote: See Chap. XIX.] and several courts for the trial of original causes. Local justices of the peace are commonly given jurisdiction over prosecutions for petty misdemeanors, and civil cases involving small amounts (seldom over $50 or $100), which do not affect title to land. Then come County Courts (often styled Courts of Common Pleas or District Courts), having cognizance of actions involving greater sums, and to which appeals from judgments of justices of the peace can be taken. These generally have both civil and criminal jurisdiction. A higher court, which may be styled a Superior Court, or Circuit Court, often exists, with unlimited jurisdiction as respects values in controversy, and also as to crimes, the County Courts in such case having a limited jurisdiction in these respects. Municipal courts are to be found in all considerable cities and in many of the lesser municipalities, such as towns and boroughs. City Courts often have jurisdiction over civil causes to which one residing in the city is a party, or growing out of a transaction occurring within the city, irrespective of the amount of the matter in demand. They frequently have a criminal side, before which convictions may be had for petty misdemeanors, and those charged with higher offenses bound over for trial in some court of general criminal jurisdiction.[Footnote: See Goodnow, "City Government in the United States," Chap. IX.] For the settlement of the estates of deceased persons and the appointment and superintendence of guardians and similar agents of the law, and proceedings in insolvency, there are in many States special courts, known as Courts of Probate, Surrogate's Courts, or Orphans' Courts, and Courts of Insolvency. In others these functions belong to the County Courts.