supreme court

supreme court (plural supreme courts)

1. A court of law which represents the highest legal authority within a jurisdiction.
   • 1934 October 13, “Is the U.S. Supreme Court Swayed by Politics?”, in The China Weekly Review‎, volume 70, number 7, →OCLC, page 216, column 1:

     Many observers believed that the tribunal will consciously or unconsciously be influenced by the November elections. It is an old saying that the supreme court watches the polls.

2. A superior court; a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases.
3. (Canada) In certain provinces, a superior court of original jurisdiction, which however is inferior to the province's court of appeals.

Note that a supreme court in the second sense may not be a court within the first sense. For example, in British colonies and some Commonwealth realms, cases heard by colonial or local supreme courts may be appealed to the colonial or local courts of appeal, and finally to Judicial Committee of the Privy Council if leave is given.

• high court
• court of last resort

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