# Federalism
There are fifty-six separate legal systems in the United States: those of the fifty states, the federal government, the District of Columbia, the military, and three territorial systems. Within each legal system is a complex interplay among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. This division of authority between a central, federal government and state governments is known as **federalism**.
In the United States, the federal government only has the authority given to it by the states via the U.S. Constitution. If a power is not granted to the federal government, the states retain the power. For example, the federal government cannot tax the exchange of goods between states as “exports.” The Constitution limits the power of the federal government, and the state constitutions limit the power of the state governments.
Figure 2.3 Federalism Between Federal and State Governments
### Jurisdiction
The authority of a court to hear a particular type of case is called **jurisdiction**. State and federal courts hear different types of cases, involving different laws, different law enforcement agencies, and different judicial systems. The rules governing the procedures used in these courts are known as civil procedure or criminal procedure. The rules of [**subject matter jurisdiction**](/learn/sourcebooks/business-law-i/litigation/subject-matter-and-personal-jurisdiction.md#subject-matter-jurisdiction) dictate whether a case is heard in federal or state court. This is discussed more [here](/learn/sourcebooks/business-law-i/litigation/subject-matter-and-personal-jurisdiction.md#subject-matter-jurisdiction).
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Attributions and Licensing
Except where otherwise noted, this page's content is adapted from [Federalism](https://pressbooks.pub/introductiontobusinesslaw/chapter/chapter-2/) in [*Fundamentals of Business Law* ](https://pressbooks.pub/introductiontobusinesslaw/)by Melissa Randall (2020), used under [CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). This page is licensed under [CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).
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