Territorial courts exist primarily to ensure a functioning legal system in territories that lack their own state courts.

• A. Territories Lack Legal Systems
• B. Territories Require Federal Oversight For Laws
• C. Territories Need Legal Systems
• D. Territories Are Governed By State Courts

Answer: (C)

When an area isn’t organized as a state, there still has to be a functioning judiciary to enforce laws, resolve disputes, and maintain order. Territorial courts exist to provide that essential legal framework in places that don’t have their own state court system. The idea is simply that territories need a working system of courts to handle local legal matters under congressional authority, so the statement that they “need legal systems” captures the core purpose.

That’s why this choice is the best fit: it accurately reflects why territorial courts are necessary. By contrast, saying territories lack legal systems is too absolute—there are laws and some form of judicial structure, though not a full state court system. Saying territories require federal oversight for laws misses the practical point of courts existing to ensure access to justice locally. And territories are not governed by state courts, since they do not have state governments.