@Zeust, as in most things, everything you mention varies by jurisdiction. The USA is an actual federal state. Each individual US state has a parallel jurisdiction to the over-arching jurisdiction of the USA. Where there are no federal laws, state law holds. In many cases, where there are federal laws, state law can supersede, depending on how the federal law is written. Every example you give actually has 51 different variations (one for each state and then a 51st for those territories that are under exclusively Federal jurisdiction). In some cases, the variations can be in complete opposition to each other. General statements about law in the USA are less likely to be true than for general statements about law over the entire extent of Europe.
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@Zeust, as in most things, everything you mention varies by jurisdiction. The USA is an actual federal state. Each individual US state has a parallel jurisdiction to the over-arching jurisdiction of the USA. Where there are no federal laws, state law holds. In many cases, where there are federal laws, state law can supersede, depending on how the federal law is written. Every example you give actually has 51 different variations (one for each state and then a 51st for those territories that are under exclusively Federal jurisdiction). In some cases, the variations can be in complete opposition to each other. General statements about law in the USA are less likely to be true than for general statements about law over the entire extent of Europe.