What is "supreme court"

n. A court of law which represents the highest legal authority within a jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court (, Beit HaMishpat HaElyon) is the highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts and, in some cases, original jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court consists of 15 justices who are appointed by the Judicial Selection Committee. Once appointed, justices serve until retirement at the age of 70, unless they resign, or are removed from office. The current President (Chief Justice) of the Supreme Court is Miriam Naor.

The Supreme Court is situated in West Jerusalem. Its jurisdiction applies to all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories.

According to the principle of binding precedent ( stare decisis), a ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every other court, except itself.

Over the years, the Supreme Court has ruled on numerous sensitive issues, some of which relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the rights of Arab citizens and discrimination between Jewish groups in Israel.

The Supreme Court (最高裁判所 Saikō-Saibansho; called 最高裁 Saikō-Sai for short), located in Hayabusachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Japanese constitution and decide questions of national law (including local bylaws). It has the power of judicial review; that is, it can declare Acts of the National Diet, local assemblies, and administrative actions, to be unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court of Hong Kong was the highest court in Hong Kong prior to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China in 1997 and heard cases of first instance and appeals from the District and Magisrates Courts as well as certain tribunals. The Supreme Court was made up of the High Court of Justice (High Court) and the Court of Appeal.

On 1 July 1997, the Supreme Court became the High Court which is made up of the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court (, lit. Highest Court) is the supreme court and the third and final instance in all civil and criminal cases in the Kingdom of Denmark. It is based at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen which also houses the Danish Parliament and the Prime Minister's office.

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in Sudan, located in Khartoum. As of 2011, the court consists of 70 judges operating through panels each composed of three judges, with a senior president. The members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President of Sudan who is advised on the matter by the supreme council of the judiciary, members of the courts of appeal and other people with the required qualifications. Decisions made in the court are reached by the majority and are only subject to revision "when the chief justice deems that an infringement of sharia laws had taken place." If this is the case "he convenes a five Supreme Court judges panel the majority of whom not must have participated in reaching the disputed decision in order to resolve the matter. "

In October 2010, seven Indonesian judges joined a three-week training course in Sudan to learn about economic sharia (syariah) (Islamic laws), given that Sudan is reportedly known as a pioneer in the syariah field. The Indonesian Supreme Court and the Sudanese Supreme Court will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in September 2011.

With the new independence of South Sudan, supreme authority in South Sudan has since passed to the South Sudan Supreme Court in Juba, a court which had been planned since at least 2005.

In South Africa, Supreme Court may refer to:

• the Supreme Court of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1997, when it was replaced by the High Courts and the Supreme Court of Appeals.
• the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, which replaced the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in 1997.

Supreme Court (1948–1962) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. After winning the Horris Hill Stakes as a two-year-old, Supreme Court was undefeated in four races as a three-year-old in 1951, taking the Chester Vase and King Edward VII Stakes before beating a strong international field to win the inaugural King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Following his win in the most valuable race ever run in Britain, Supreme Court was retired to stud, where he had some success as a sire of winners.

The Supreme Court (, OGH) is one of three judicial bodies charged with final appellate jurisdiction in Austria. Whereas the Constitutional Court deals with constitutional law and the Supreme Administrative Court with public law, the Supreme Court is the highest instance in private and criminal law matters. These three Courts are hierarchically on the same level, there being no superiority or subordination between them.

The Court meets in the Palace of Justice in Vienna.

A supreme court is the highest court of a country or other jurisdiction.

Supreme Court may also refer to:

• A supreme court building housing a given supreme court
• Supreme Court (horse) (1948–1962), a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire

A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, apex court, and highest court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of a supreme court are not subject to further review by any other court. Supreme courts typically function primarily as appellate courts, hearing appeals from decisions of lower trial courts, or from intermediate-level appellate courts.

However, not all highest courts are named as such. Civil law states tend not to have a single highest court. Additionally, the highest court in some jurisdictions is not named the "Supreme Court", for example, the High Court of Australia; this is because decisions by the High Court could formerly be appealed to the Privy Council. On the other hand, in some places the court named the "Supreme Court" is not in fact the highest court; examples include the New York Supreme Court, the Supreme Courts of several Canadian provinces/territories and the former Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales, which are all subordinate to higher courts of appeal.

Some countries have multiple "supreme courts" whose respective jurisdictions have different geographical extents, or which are restricted to particular areas of law. In particular, countries with a federal system of government typically have both a federal supreme court (such as the Supreme Court of the United States), and supreme courts for each member state (such as the Supreme Court of Nevada), with the former having jurisdiction over the latter only to the extent that the federal constitution extends federal law over state law. Jurisdictions with a civil law system often have a hierarchy of administrative courts separate from the ordinary courts, headed by a supreme administrative court as is the case in the Netherlands. A number of jurisdictions also maintain a separate constitutional court (first developed in the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920), such as Austria, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and South Africa. Within the former British Empire, the highest court within a colony was often called the "Supreme Court", even though appeals could be made from that court to the United Kingdom's Privy Council (based in London). A number of Commonwealth jurisdictions retain this system, but many others have reconstituted their own highest court as a court of last resort, with the right of appeal to the Privy Council being abolished.

In jurisdictions using a common law system, the doctrine of stare decisis applies, whereby the principles applied by the supreme court in its decisions are binding upon all lower courts; this is intended to apply a uniform interpretation and implementation of the law. In civil law jurisdictions the doctrine of stare decisis is not generally considered to apply, so the decisions of the supreme court are not necessarily binding beyond the immediate case before it; however, in practice the decisions of the supreme court usually provide a very strong precedent, or jurisprudence constante, for both itself and all lower courts.