The territorial division of powers or competences is a form of vertical separation of powers concerning legislative, executive and judicial competences within a multi-layered system. Key arguments in favour of territorial distribution include the principle of subsidiarity, promoting collective self-identity and enhancing flexibility and stability within a political system. This chapter primarily focuses on three models of territorial distribution: unitary, regionalised and federal systems. In a unitary system, the legal order is assumed to emanate from a single central legal source. This system can be either centralised or decentralised, with the latter involving autonomous legal sub-entities (e.g. France). Situated between unitary and federal systems are regionalised systems, which feature strong regional autonomies and typically possess their own legislative and executive competences, as granted by the central constitution and regional statutes. The dynamic evolution of these systems and the potential devolution of powers to regional entities depends significantly on the underlying model. Federal systems can emerge in various ways: they can originate from a contractual arrangement among former confederations (e.g. the United States, Switzerland and Germany), derive from pre-existing colonial structures (e.g. Australia, Brazil, India and Canada), result from fundamental constitutional reforms (e.g. South Africa), or evolve through the gradual devolution of competences (e.g. Belgium). Competences may be distributed or shared between the states and the federation in the areas of legislation, executive power and the judiciary. The comparative analysis presented in this chapter highlights the various types of legislative distribution, such as exclusive competencies of either the states or the federation, concurrent competencies, basic federal legislation and mechanisms for resolving conflicts, either in favour of the federation or the states. Complex models also govern the administration of federal laws, whether through dualist structures or ‘executive federalism’, as well as the allocation of judicial powers between the two levels of government.