In most legaljurisdictions, asupreme court, also known as acourt of last resort,apex court, andhigh (orfinal)court of appeal, andcourt of final appeal, is the highestcourt within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of a supreme court are binding on all other courts in a nation and are not subject to further review by any other court. Supreme courts typically function primarily asappellate courts, hearingappeals from decisions of lowertrial courts, or from intermediate-level appellate courts. A supreme court can also, in certain circumstances, act as a court oforiginal jurisdiction.^{[1][additional citation(s) needed]}

Seats of supreme courts:

• Supreme Court of the United States
• Supreme Court of India

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• Supreme Court of Kazakhstan
• Supreme Court of Argentina

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• Supreme Court of Costa Rica
• Supreme Court of Spain

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• Supreme Court of Japan
• High Court of Australia

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• Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland
• Supreme Court of Ghana

Civil law states tend not to have a single highest court. Some federations, such as the United States, also do not have a single highest court. The highest court in some jurisdictions is not named the "Supreme Court", for example, theHigh Court of Australia. On the other hand, in some places the court named the "Supreme Court" is not in fact the highest court; examples include theNew York Supreme Court, thesupreme courts of several Canadian provinces/territories, and the formerSupreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales andSupreme Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland, 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. Some countries with afederal system of government may have both a federal supreme court (such as theSupreme Court of the United States), and supreme courts for each member state (such as theSupreme Court of Nevada), with the former having jurisdiction over the latter only to the extent that the federalconstitution extendsfederal law overstate law. However, other federations, such as Canada, may have a supreme court of general jurisdiction, able to decide any question of law. Jurisdictions with acivil law system often have a hierarchy ofadministrative courts separate from theordinary courts, headed by a supreme administrative court (such as theSupreme Administrative Court of Finland, for example). A number of jurisdictions also maintain a separateconstitutional court^[2] or other judicial or quasi-judicial body (first developed in theCzechoslovak Constitution of 1920), such as Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Russia, Spain and South Africa. Within the formerBritish Empire, the highest court within a colony was often called the "Supreme Court", even though appeals could be made from that court to theUnited Kingdom'sPrivy Council (based in London). A number ofCommonwealth 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.

The idea of a supreme court owes much to the framers of theConstitution of the United States. It was while debating thedivision of powers between the legislative and executive departments that delegates to the1787 Constitutional Convention established the parameters for the national judiciary. Creating a separate "third branch" of government was a novel idea; in the English tradition, judicial power is just one aspect of the sovereign authority of theCrown. It was also proposed in the Constitutional Convention that the judiciary should have a role inchecking the executive power to exercise aveto or to revise laws. In the end, theFramers of the Constitution compromised by sketching only a general outline of the judiciary, vesting of federal judicial power in "one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish".^[3][4] They delineated neither the exact powers and prerogatives of the Supreme Court nor the organization of the Judicial Branch as a whole.

In jurisdictions using acommon law system, the doctrine ofstare decisis applies, whereby the principles applied by the supreme court in itsdecisions are binding upon all lower courts; this is intended to apply a uniform interpretation and implementation of the law. Incivil law jurisdictions the doctrine ofstare 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, orjurisprudence constante, for both itself and all lower courts.

The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in theAustralian court hierarchy and the finalcourt of appeal inAustralia.^[5] It has bothoriginal andappellate jurisdiction, the power ofjudicial review over laws passed by theParliament of Australia and the parliaments of the states, and the ability to interpret theConstitution of Australia and thereby shape the development offederalism in Australia.

The High Court is mandated by section 71 of the Constitution, which vests in it thejudicial power of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Court was constituted by, and its first members were appointed under, theJudiciary Act 1903. It now operates under sections 71 to 75 of the Constitution, theJudiciary Act,^[6] and theHigh Court of Australia Act 1979.^[7] It is composed of seven Justices: theChief Justice of Australia, currentlyStephen GagelerAC, and six other Justices. They are appointed by theGovernor-General of Australia on the advice of the federal government, and under the constitution must retire at age 70.

TheSupreme Court of Bangladesh is created by the provisions of the Constitution of Bangladesh, 1972. There are two Divisions of the Supreme Court, i.e. (a) Appellate Division and (b) High Court Division. Appellate Division is the highest Court of Appeal and usually does not exercise the powers of a court of the first instance. Whereas, the High Court Division is a Court of the first instance in writ/judicial review, company, and admiralty matters.

InHong Kong, theSupreme Court of Hong Kong (now known as theHigh Court of Hong Kong) was the final court of appeal during its colonial times which ended with transfer of sovereignty in 1997. The final adjudication power, as in any other British Colonies, rested with theJudicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) in London, United Kingdom. Now the power of final adjudication is vested in theCourt of Final Appeal created in 1997. Under theBasic Law, its constitution, the territory remains a common law jurisdiction. Consequently, judges from other common law jurisdictions (includingEngland and Wales) can be recruited and continue to serve in thejudiciary according to Article 92 of the Basic Law. On the other hand, the power of interpretation of the Basic Law itself is vested in theStanding Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) in Beijing (without retroactive effect), and the courts are authorised to interpret the Basic Law when trying cases, in accordance with Article 158 of the Basic Law. This arrangement became controversial in light of theright of abode issue in 1999, raising concerns for judicial independence.

TheSupreme Court of India was created on January 28, 1950 after adoption of theConstitution. Article 141 of the Constitution of India states that the law declared by Supreme Court is to be binding on all Courts within the territory of India while article 142 vests the court with the inherent power to pass any decree or order to ensure 'complete justice'. It is the highest court in India and has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Constitution and decide questions of national law (including local bylaws). The Supreme Court is also vested with the power of judicial review to ensure the application of the rule of law.

TheSupreme Court is the highest court in theRepublic of Ireland. It has authority to interpret the constitution, and strike down laws and activities of the state that it finds to be unconstitutional. It is also the highest authority in the interpretation of the law. Constitutionally it must have authority to interpret the constitution but its further appellate jurisdiction from lower courts is defined by law. The Irish Supreme Court consists of its presiding member, the Chief Justice, and seven other judges. Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President in accordance with the binding advice of the Government. The Supreme Court sits in theFour Courts inDublin.

InNauru, there is no single highest court for all types of cases. TheSupreme Court has final jurisdiction onconstitutional matters, but any other case may be appealed further to theAppellate Court. In addition, an agreement between Nauru andAustralia in 1976 provides for appeals from the Supreme Court of Nauru to theHigh Court of Australia in both criminal and civil cases, with the notable exception of constitutional cases.^[8][9]

InNew Zealand, the right of appeal to thePrivy Council was abolished following the passing of the Supreme Court Act (2003). A right of appeal to the Privy Council remains for criminal cases which were decided before the Supreme Court was created, but it is likely that the successful appeal byMark Lundy to the Privy Council in 2013 will be the last appeal to theBoard from New Zealand.

The newSupreme Court of New Zealand was officially established at the beginning of 2004, although it did not come into operation until July. TheHigh Court of New Zealand was until 1980 known as the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has a purely appellate jurisdiction and hears appeals from theCourt of Appeal of New Zealand. In some cases, an appeal may be removed directly to the Supreme Court from the High Court. For certain cases, particularly cases which commenced in the District Court, a lower court (typically the High Court or the Court of Appeal) may be the court of final jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court is the highest court in Nigeria. The Supreme Court mainly regulates in disputes between states and/or the federal government. Another power of the Supreme court rests in its authority to oversee any decisions over presidential elections and term lengths.^[10]

TheSupreme Court has been the apex court forPakistan since the declaration of the republic in 1956 (previously the Privy Council had that function). The Supreme Court has the final say on matters ofconstitutional law, federal law or on matters of mixed federal and provincial competence. It can hear appeals on matters of provincial competence only if a matter of a constitutional nature is raised.

With respect to Pakistan's autonomous territories (i.e. Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan) the Supreme Court's jurisdiction is rather limited and varies from territory to territory; it can hear appeals only of a constitutional nature from Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Azad Kashmir has its own courts system and the constitution of Pakistan does not apply to it as such; appeals from Azad Kashmir relate to its relationship with Pakistan.

The provinces have their own courts system, with the High Court as the apex court, except insofar as where an appeal can go to the Supreme Court as mentioned above.

TheSupreme Court of the United Kingdom is the ultimate court for criminal and civil matters in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and for civil matters in Scotland. (The supreme court for criminal matters in Scotland is theHigh Court of Justiciary.) The Supreme Court was established by theConstitutional Reform Act 2005 with effect from 1 October 2009, replacing and assuming thejudicial functions of the House of Lords.Devolution issues under theScotland Act 1998,Government of Wales Act andNorthern Ireland Act were also transferred to the new Supreme Court by the Constitutional Reform Act, from theJudicial Committee of the Privy Council.

The Supreme Court shares its members and accommodation at theMiddlesex Guildhall in London with theJudicial Committee of the Privy Council which hears final appeals from certain smaller Commonwealth realm countries, admiralty cases, and certain appeals from theecclesiastical courts and statutory private jurisdictions, such as professional and academic bodies.

(The Constitutional Reform Act also renamed theSupreme Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland to theCourt of Judicature, and the rarely citedSupreme Court of Judicature for England and Wales as theSenior Courts of England and Wales).

The Supreme Court was set up in 2009; until then theHouse of Lords was the ultimate courtin addition to being a legislative body, and theLord Chancellor, withlegislative andexecutive functions, was also a senior judge in the House of Lords.

TheSupreme Court of the United States, established in 1789, is the highest federal court in theUnited States. It has final appellate powers over thefederal court system, and can performjudicial review in matters involvingUS federal law (which applies to all the states). There are currently nine members of the US Supreme Court, however, there is no number specified in the Constitution. New members are nominated to life terms by thePresident of the United States and must be confirmed by theSenate. There are no specific requirements set out in the Constitution for Supreme Court nominees.

EachU.S. state also has its ownstate supreme court, the highest authority in interpreting that state's law and administering that state's judiciary. The courts ofOklahoma andTexas have separate criminal and civil courts of last resort, while Delaware has separate courts for appellate andequity functions.^[11]

The official names of state supreme courts vary, as do the titles of its members, which can cause confusion between jurisdictions. Alternative names for supreme courts includesCourt of Appeals,Supreme Court of Appeals andSupreme Judicial Court. However theNew York Supreme Court, Appellate Division is a lower court, not a supreme court. The titles for judicial officeholders can cause confusion, even within the same jurisdiction.In Texas, the posts of Justice, Judge, and Justices of the Peace are members of successively lower levels of courts.

TheRoman law and theCorpus Juris Civilis are generally held to be the historical model for civil law. From the late 18th century onwards,civil law jurisdictions began to codify their laws, most of all incivil codes.

The Supreme Court functions as a last resort tribunal. Its rulings cannot be appealed. It also decides on cases dealing with the interpretation of theconstitution (for example, it can overturn a law passed byCongress if it deems it unconstitutional).

According to theArmenian constitution theCourt of Cassation of Armenia is the highest court inArmenia, except in the sphere of constitutional justice, in which theConstitutional Court of Armenia maintains authority.^[12]

InAustria, theAustrian Constitution of 1920 (based on a draft byHans Kelsen) introducedjudicial review of legislative acts for theirconstitutionality. This function is performed by theConstitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof), which is also charged with the review of administrative acts on whether they violate constitutionally guaranteed rights.Other than that, administrative acts are reviewed by theAdministrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof). TheSupreme Court (Oberste Gerichtshof (OGH)), stands at the top of Austria's system of "ordinary courts" (ordentliche Gerichte) as the final instance in issues ofprivate law andcriminal law.

InBrazil, theSupreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) is the highest court. It is both the constitutional court and the court of last resort in Brazilian law. It only reviews cases that may be unconstitutional or finalhabeas corpus pleads for criminal cases. It also judges, inoriginal jurisdiction, cases involving members ofcongress,senators, ministers of state, members of the high courts and thePresident andVice-President of the Republic. The Superior Court of Justice (Superior Tribunal de Justiça) reviews State and Federal Circuit courts decisions forcivil law andcriminal law cases, when dealing with federal law or conflicting rulings. The Superior Labour Court (Tribunal Superior do Trabalho) reviews cases involvinglabour law. The Superior Electoral Court (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral) is the court of last resort ofelectoral law, and also overseesgeneral elections. The Superior Military Court (Tribunal Superior Militar) is the highest court in matters of federalmilitary law.

InCroatia, the supreme jurisdiction is given to theSupreme Court, which secures a uniform application of laws. TheConstitutional Court exists to verifyconstitutionality of laws and regulations, as well as decide on individual complaints on decisions on governmental bodies. It also decides on jurisdictional disputes between the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

InDenmark, allordinary courts have original jurisdiction to hear all types of cases, including cases of a constitutional or administrative nature. As a result, there exists no special constitutional court, and therefore final jurisdiction is vested with theDanish Supreme Court (Højesteret) which was established 14 February 1661 by kingFrederik III.

InFrance, supreme appellate jurisdiction is divided among three judicial bodies:

• for judicial cases, i.e.,civil orcriminal matters:Court of Cassation (Cour de cassation)
• for administrative cases:Council of State (Conseil d'État)
• constitutional challenges ofstatutory laws:Constitutional Council (Conseil constitutionnel)

When there is jurisdictional dispute between judicial and administrative courts: the Court of Arbitration (Tribunal des conflits), which is empanelled half from the Court of Cassation and half from the Council of State and presided over by theMinister of Justice, is called together to settle the dispute or hand down a final decision.

TheHigh Court (Haute Cour) exists only to impeach thePresident of the French Republic in case of "breach of his duties patently incompatible with his continuing in office". Since a constitutional amendment of 2007, theFrench Constitution states that the High Court is composed of all members of both Houses of Parliament. As of 2023, it has never been convened.

While the Presidentis not, members of the French government are subject to the same laws as other French citizens. However, since 1993, a new and different court was introduced to judge them in place of normal courts, theJustice Court of the Republic (Cour de Justice de la République). It has since been highly criticized and is scheduled for deletion in a constitutional amendment due for 2019.

InGermany, there is node jure single supreme court. Instead, cases are decided in the final instance by one of five federal high courts (see below), depending on their nature.

Final interpretation of the German Constitution, theGrundgesetz, is the task of theBundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court), which is thede facto highest German court, as it can declare bothfederal andstatelegislation ineffective. In addition, it has the power to overrule decisions of all other courts, despite not being a court of appeals in the German court system. It is also the only court possessing the power and authority to outlaw political parties, should their manifests or activism prove unconstitutional.

When it comes to civil and criminal cases, theBundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) is at the top of the hierarchy of courts. The other branches of the German judicial system each have their own appellate systems, each topped by a high court; these are theBundessozialgericht (Federal Social Court) for matters of social security, theBundesarbeitsgericht (Federal Labour Court) for employment and labour, theBundesfinanzhof (Federal Fiscal Court) for taxation and financial issues, and theBundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court) for administrative law. The so-calledGemeinsamer Senat der Obersten Gerichtshöfe (Joint Senate of the Supreme Courts) is not a supreme court itself, but an ad-hoc body that is convened only when one high court intends to diverge from another high court's legal opinion. As the courts have well-defined areas of responsibility, situations like these are rather rare and the Joint Senate gathers very infrequently.

TheSupreme Court of Iceland (Icelandic:Hæstiréttur Íslands,lit.Highest Court of Iceland) was founded under Act No. 22/1919 and held its first session on 16 February 1920.^[13] The Court holds the highest judicial power in Iceland. The court system was transformed from a two level system to a three level system in 2018 with the establishment of Landsréttur.^[14]

Israel'sSupreme Court is at the head of the court system in theState of Israel. It is the highest judicial instance. The Supreme Court sits inJerusalem. The area of its jurisdiction is the entire State. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme Court itself. The Israeli supreme court is both an appellate court and the high court of justice. As an appellate court, the Supreme Court considers cases on appeal (both criminal and civil) on judgments and other decisions of the District Courts. It also considers appeals on judicial and quasi-judicial decisions of various kinds, such as matters relating to the legality of Knesset elections and disciplinary rulings of the Bar Association. As the High Court of Justice (Hebrew: Beit Mishpat Gavoha Le'Zedek בית משפט גבוה לצדק; also known by its initials as Bagatz בג"ץ), the Supreme Court rules as a court of first instance, primarily in matters regarding the legality of decisions of State authorities: Government decisions, those of local authorities and other bodies and persons performing public functions under the law, and direct challenges to the constitutionality of laws enacted by the Knesset. The court has broad discretionary authority to rule on matters in which it considers it necessary to grant relief in the interests of justice, and which are not within the jurisdiction of another court or tribunal. The High Court of Justice grants relief through orders such as injunction, mandamus and Habeas Corpus, as well as through declaratory judgments. The Supreme Court can also sit at a further hearing on its own judgment. In a matter on which the Supreme Court has ruled – whether as a court of appeals or as the High Court of Justice – with a panel of three or more justices, it may rule at a further hearing with a panel of a larger number of justices. A further hearing may be held if the Supreme Court makes a ruling inconsistent with a previous ruling or if the Court deems that the importance, difficulty or novelty of a ruling of the Court justifies such hearing. The Supreme Court also holds the unique power of being able to order "trial de novo" (a retrial).

Italy has different supreme courts.

The Italian court of last resort for most disputes is theSupreme Court of Cassation. There is also a separate constitutional court, theConstitutional Court, which has a duty of judicial review, and which can strike down legislation as being in conflict with the Constitution. As with France, administrative cases are ruled by theCouncil of State.

InJapan, theSupreme Court of Japan is called最高裁判所 (Saikō-Saibansho; called 最高裁 Saikō-Sai for short), located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority within Japan to interpret the Constitution and decide questions of national law (including local bylaws). It has the power of judicial review (i.e., it can declare Acts of Diet and Local Assembly, and administrative actions, unconstitutional).

InLuxembourg, challenges on the conformity of the law to the Constitution are brought before theCour constitutionnelle (Constitutional Court). The most used and common procedure to present these challenges is by way of the "question préjudicielle" (prejudicial question).
The Court of last resort for civil and criminal proceedings is the "Cour de cassation".
For administrative proceedings the highest court is the "Cour administrative" (Administrative Court).

The supreme court ofMacau is theCourt of Final Appeal (Portuguese:Tribunal de Última Instância;Chinese:澳門終審法院), though like Hong Kong, the power to interpret theBasic Law is vested in theStanding Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) in Beijing, without retroactive effect.

TheSupreme Court of Justice of the Nation (Spanish:Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación) is the highest court in Mexico.

In theNetherlands, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands is the highest court. Its decisions, known as "arresten", are absolutely final. The court is banned from testing legislation against the constitution, pursuant to the principle of the sovereignty of the States-General; the court can, however, test legislation against treaties such as theEuropean Convention on Human Rights. Next to the Hoge Raad, in administrative law there are also other highest courts of appeal. Which highest court has jurisdiction in this field of law depends on the subject of the case. The most important of these courts is the Department of Justice of the Council of State (Afdeling Bestuursrechtspraak van de Raad van State).

InPortugal, there are several supreme courts, each with a specific jurisdiction:

• TheSupreme Court of Justice (Supremo Tribunal de Justiça) – for judicial (civil and criminal) matters;
• TheConstitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) – for theconstitutional matters;
• TheSupreme Administrative Court (Supremo Tribunal Administrativo) – for administrative and fiscal matters;
• TheCourt of Auditors (Tribunal de Contas) – for auditing the public expenditure.

Until 2003, a fifth supreme court also existed for the military jurisdiction, this being the Supreme Military Court (Supremo Tribunal Militar). Presently, in time of peace, the supreme court for military justice matters is the Supreme Court of Justice, which now includes four military judges.

In theRepublic of China (Taiwan), there are four different courts of last resort:

• Supreme Court of the Republic of China (中華民國最高法院): civil and criminal cases.
• Supreme Administrative Court of the Republic of China (中華民國最高行政法院): executive cases.
• Disciplinary Court of the Republic of China (中華民國懲戒法院): disciplinary cases of civil servants and judges. (The Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission was a previous form of disciplinary court until 2020.)
• Constitutional Court (憲法法庭): abstract review of the constitutionality of statutes and regulations, constitutional complaint against the final court decisions, disputes between constitutional organs, dissolution of political parties in violation of the Constitution, protection of local self-governments, uniform interpretation of statutes and regulations, trial of impeachments against thePresident orVice President.

The Constitutional Court, consisting of 15 justices and mainly dealing with constitutional issues. (The Council of Grand Justices was a previous form of Constitutional review organ until 2022.)

All three courts are directly under theJudicial Yuan, whose president also serves as Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court.

Founded by papal bull in 1532, theCourt of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and theHigh Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court. However, the absolute highest court (excluding criminal matters) is theSupreme Court of the United Kingdom.

In South Korea, role of highest court is divided among twoconstitutional judicial bodies ofjudicial branch.

• for major constitutional cases,Constitutional Court of Korea
• for every cases except jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court of Korea,Supreme Court of Korea

Spanish Supreme Court is the highest court for all cases in Spain (both private and public). Only those cases related to human rights can be appealed at the Constitutional Court (which also decides about acts accordance with Spanish Constitution).
In Spain, high courts cannot create binding precedents;^[15] however, lower rank courts usually observe Supreme Court interpretations. In most private law cases, two Supreme Court judgements supporting a claim are needed to appeal at the Supreme Court.^[16]
Five sections form the Spanish Supreme court:

• Section one judges private law cases (including commercial law).
• Section two decides about criminal appeals.
• Section three judges administrative cases and controls government normative powers.
• Section four is dedicated to labour law.
• Section five is dedicated to military justice.

There is also a separate constitutional court, theTribunal Constitucional, which has a duty of the supreme interpreter of the Spanish Constitution, with the power to determine the constitutionality of acts and statutes made by any public body, central, regional, or local in Spain.

InSweden, theSupreme Court, founded in 1789, and theSupreme Administrative Court, founded in 1909, respectively function as the highest courts of the land. The Supreme Administrative Court considers cases concerning disputes between individuals and administrative organs, as well as disputes among administrative organs, while the Supreme Court considers all other cases. The judges are appointed by theGovernment. In most cases, the Supreme Courts will only grant leave to appeal a case (prövningstillstånd) if the case involves setting a precedent in the interpretation of the law. Exceptions are issues where the Supreme Court is the court of first instance. Such cases include an application for a retrial of a criminal case in the light of new evidence, and prosecutions made against an incumbent minister of the Government for severe neglect of duty. If a lower court has to try a case which involves a question where there is no settled interpretation of the law, it can also refer the question to the relevant Supreme Court for an answer.

InSwitzerland, theFederal Supreme Court of Switzerland^[17] is the final court of appeals. Due to Switzerland's system ofdirect democracy, it has no authority to review the constitutionality of federal statutes, but the people can strike down a proposed law by referendum. According to settled case law, however, the Court is authorised to review the compliance of all Swiss law with certain categories of international law, especially theEuropean Convention of Human Rights.

InSri Lanka, theSupreme Court of Sri Lanka was created in 1972 after the adoption of a new Constitution. The Supreme Court is the highest and final superior court of record and is empowered to exercise its powers, subject to the provisions of the Constitution. The court rulings take precedence over all lower Courts. The Sri Lanka judicial system is complex blend of both common-law and civil-law. In some cases such as capital punishment, the decision may be passed on to the President of the Republic for clemency petitions. However, when there is 2/3 majority in the parliament in favour of president (as with present), the supreme court and its judges' powers become nullified as they could be fired from their positions according to the Constitution, if the president wants. Therefore, in such situations, Civil law empowerment vanishes.

Historically, citizens appealed directly to the King along his route to places out of the Palace. AThai King would adjudicate all disputes. During the reign ofKing Chulalongkorn, an official department for appeals was set up, and, after Thailand adopted a western-styled government, Thai Supreme Court was established in 1891.

At present, theSupreme Court of Thailand retains the important status as the highest court of justice in the country. Operating separately from the Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court, the judgement of the Supreme Court is considered as final.

The Supreme Court is one of Turkey's four highest judicial authority. Judicial justice is the final review authority of the decisions and judgments issued by the courts of first instance and that the law does not leave to another judicial authority.

The decisions of the Court of Appeal's General Assembly on the Unification of Judgments are binding on judges. This is not a separate appellate body but an assembly of the Court of Appeal which renders decisions regarding points of laws on which its different chambers disagree.

In theUnited Arab Emirates, theFederal Supreme Court of the United Arab Emirates was created in 1973 after the adoption of the Constitution. The Supreme Court is the highest and final superior court of record and is empowered to exercise its powers, subject to the provisions of the Constitution. The court rulings take precedence over all lower Courts. The Emirati judicial system is complex blend of both Islamic law and civil law. In some cases such as capital punishment, the decision may be passed on to the President of the country (currentlyMohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan).^[18]

• ForHonduras, seeSupreme Court of Honduras.
• ForPeru, seeSupreme Court of Peru.
• ForPoland, seeSupreme Court of the Republic of Poland.
• ForRomania, seeHigh Court of Cassation and Justice.
• ForUganda, seeSupreme Court of Uganda
• ForUkraine, seeSupreme Court of Ukraine.
• ForUruguay, seeSupreme Court of Uruguay.

Canada is a bi-jural country. Nine of the provinces use the common law, while the province ofQuebec uses the civil law. Federal public law is based on the common law, but federal statute law must take into account both legal systems.^[19]

TheSupreme Court of Canada was established in 1875. It is defined by theConstitution Act, 1867 and by theSupreme Court Act as a "General Court of Appeal".^[20][21] As a result, it can hear appeals on any legal issues considered by lower courts, on issues of constitutional law, federal law and provincial law. It can hear appeals involving the common law and the civil law, and has full authority to rule on those issues. The Court can hear appeals from the courts of appeal from the provinces and territories, and also appeals from the Federal Court of Appeal. The court's decisions are final and binding on the federal courts and the courts from all provinces and territories.

The court can also hearreference questions; requests directly from the federal cabinet asking about a question of law, typically the constitutionality of a major issue before it is heard in a trial court. Reference questions asked by a provincial cabinet to a province's highest court can be appealed as of right to the Supreme Court. Opinions given by the Supreme Court in answer to a reference question are not legally binding, but no government has ever ignored the opinion.

The Court is composed of theChief Justice of Canada and eightpuisne justices. Three of the nine justices are required to come from the Bar or superior courts of Quebec, to ensure the Court has a strong membership in the civil law of Quebec. The remaining six justices come from the rest of Canada, traditionally three fromOntario, two from thewestern provinces, and one from theAtlantic provinces. The Court isinstitutionally bilingual. Parties can argue their cases in either English or French, and file written materials in either language. The Court will provide simultaneous interpretation for counsel and members of the public. It issues its judgments in both languages simultaneously.

Although created in 1875, the Supreme Court was not originally the final court of appeal. Canada was part of the British Empire, and appeals initially lay to theJudicial Committee of the Privy Council from the Supreme Court, and also from the provincial appellate courts, by-passing the Supreme Court. In 1933, the federal Parliament abolished such appeals in criminal matters. It was not until 1949 that all appeals to the Judicial Committee were abolished, although appeals which were pending could be decided by the Judicial Committee.^[22]

Law of Indonesia at the national level is based on a combination ofcivil law from the tradition ofRoman-Dutch law andcustomary law from the tradition ofAdat.^[23] Law in regional jurisdictions can vary from province to province, including evenSharia law,^[24] for exampleIslamic criminal law in Aceh, though even at the national level, individual justices can cite sharia or other forms of non-Dutch law in their legal opinions.

TheSupreme Court of Indonesia is the main judicial arm of the state, functioning as the final court of appeal as well as a means to re-open cases previously closed. The Supreme Court, which consists of a total of 51 justices, also oversees the regional high courts. It was founded at the country's independence in 1945.

TheConstitutional Court of Indonesia, on the other hand, is a part of the judicial branch tasked with review of bills and government actions for constitutionality, as well as regulation of the interactions between various arms of the state. The constitutional amendment to establish the court was passed in 2001, and the court itself was established in 2003.^[25] The Constitutional Court consists of nine justices serving nine year terms, and they're appointed in tandem by the Supreme Court, thePresident of Indonesia and thePeople's Representative Council.^[26]

ThePhilippines is generally considered the largest state with a hybridcivil law-common law system, and theSupreme Court is heavily modeled after theAmerican Supreme Court. This can be attributed to the fact that the Philippines was colonized by bothSpain and theUnited States, and the system of laws of both nations strongly influenced the development of Philippine laws and jurisprudence. Even as the body of Philippine laws remain mostly codified, the Philippine Civil Code expressly recognizes that decisions of the Supreme Court "form part of the law of the land", belonging to the same class asstatutes. The1987 Philippine Constitution also explicitly grants to the Supreme Court the power ofjudicial review over laws and executive actions. TheSupreme Court is composed of 1Chief Justice and 14Associate Justices. The court sits eitheren banc or in divisions, depending on the nature of the case to be decided.

InSouth Africa, a "two apex" system existed from 1994 to 2013. TheSupreme Court of Appeal (SCA) was created in 1994 and replaced theAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa as the highest court of appeal in non-constitutional matters. The SCA was subordinate to theConstitutional Court, which is the highest court in matters involving the interpretation and application of theConstitution. But in August 2013 the Constitution was amended to make the Constitutional Court the country's single apex court, superior to the SCA in all matters, both constitutional and non-constitutional.

In most nations with constitutions modelled after theSoviet Union, thelegislature was given the power of being thecourt of last resort.

Inthe judicial system ofmainland China the highest court of appeal is theSupreme People's Court. This supervises the administration of justice by all subordinate "local" and "special" people's courts, and is the court of last resort for the whole People's Republic of China except for Macau and Hong Kong.

The final power to interpret the law is vested in theStanding Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC). This power includes the power to interpret thebasic laws ofHong Kong andMacau, the constitutional documents of the twospecial administrative regions which are British-basedcommon law and Portuguese-basedcivil law jurisdictions respectively. This power is a legislative power and not a judicial one in that an interpretation by the NPCSC does not affect cases which have already been decided.

• ForVietnam, seeSupreme People's Court of Vietnam andStanding Committee of the National Assembly of Vietnam.

• Supreme Judicial Council of Saudi Arabia

• Constitutionalism
• Separation of powers
• Judiciary
• Independence of the judiciary
• List of national supreme courts
• Lists of supreme court justices