Law

=== Judiciary ===
{{main|Judiciary}}
[[File:Israeli supreme court judges.jpg|thumb|left|Six judges of the [[Israel Supreme Court]] sitting at their [[Bench (law)|bench]] in 1953]]

A judiciary is a number of judges mediating disputes to determine outcome. Most countries have systems of appeal courts, with an [[Supreme court|apex court]] as the ultimate judicial authority. In the United States, this authority is the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]];<ref>{{cite web |title=A Brief Overview of the Supreme Court |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/briefoverview.pdf |publisher=Supreme Court of the United States |access-date=10 November 2006 |archive-date=6 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706180812/https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/briefoverview.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> in Australia, the [[High Court of Australia|High Court]]; in India, [[the Supreme Court of India]]; in the UK, the [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom|Supreme Court]];<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.supremecourt.uk/ |title=The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher= The Supreme Court|access-date=12 November 2023 |quote=}}</ref> in Germany, the ''[[Bundesverfassungsgericht]]''; and in France, the ''[[Cour de cassation (France)|Cour de Cassation]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Entscheidungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts (Decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court) |publisher=[[Federal Constitutional Court of Germany|Bundesverfassungsgericht]] |language=de |url=http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/entscheidungen.html |access-date=10 November 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061121164330/http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/entscheidungen.html |archive-date=21 November 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Jurisprudence, publications, documentation|url=http://www.courdecassation.fr/jurisprudence_publications_documentation_2/|language=fr|publisher=[[Court of Cassation (France)|Cour de cassation]]|access-date=11 February 2007|archive-date=9 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070209144055/http://www.courdecassation.fr/jurisprudence_publications_documentation_2/|url-status=live}}</ref> For most European countries the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg can overrule national law, when EU law is relevant. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg allows citizens of the [[Council of Europe]] member states to bring cases relating to human rights issues before it.{{sfn|Goldhaber|2007|pp=1–2}}

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Public hearing at the ICJ.jpg|thumb|left|The judges of the [[International Court of Justice]] in [[the Hague]].]] -->
Some countries allow their highest judicial authority to overrule legislation they determine to be [[constitutionality|unconstitutional]]. For example, in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', the United States Supreme Court nullified many state statutes that had established [[Racial segregation in the United States|racially segregated]] schools, finding such statutes to be incompatible with the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]].{{sfn|Patterson|2001}}

A judiciary is theoretically bound by the constitution, just as all other government bodies are. In most countries judges may only [[interpretivism (legal)|interpret]] the constitution and all other laws. But in common law countries, where matters are not constitutional, the judiciary may also create law under the [[doctrine of precedent]]. The UK, Finland and New Zealand assert the ideal of [[parliamentary sovereignty]], whereby the unelected judiciary may not overturn law passed by a democratic legislature.{{sfn|Dicey|2005|pp=37–82}}

In [[communist state]]s, such as China, the courts are often regarded as parts of the executive, or subservient to the legislature; governmental institutions and actors exert thus various forms of influence on the judiciary.{{efn|E.g., the court president is a political appointee (Jensen–Heller, ''Introduction'', 11–12). About the notion of "judicial independence" in China, see Findlay, ''Judiciary in the PRC'', 282–284}} In Muslim countries, courts often examine whether state laws adhere to the Sharia: the [[Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt]] may invalidate such laws,{{sfn|Sherif|2005|p=158}} and in Iran the [[Guardian Council]] ensures the compatibility of the legislation with the "criteria of Islam".{{sfn|Sherif|2005|p=158}}{{sfn|Rasekh|2005|pp=115–116}}