Supreme Court of Israel

The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system in the State of Israel. It is the highest judicial instance. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem. 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. This is the principle of binding precedent (stare decisis) obtaining in Israel.

Judges

Appointment

Supreme Court Judges, as well as all other judges, are appointed by the President of the State upon the nomination of “the Judges’ Nominations Committee”. The Nominations Committee is composed of nine members: three judges (the President of the Supreme Court, and two Supreme Court justices), two Ministers (one of them being the Minister of Justice), two members of the Knesset and two representatives of the Israel Bar Association. At the head of the Committee is the Minister of Justice.

The three organs of the State - the legislatve, executive, and judicial branch, as well as the Bar Association are represented in the Judges’ Nominations Committee. Thus, the shaping of the judicial body, through the manner of judicial appointment, is carried out by all the authorities together.

Qualifications

The following are qualified to be appointed a justice of the Supreme Court: a person who has held office as a judge of a District Court for a period of five years, or a person who is inscribed, or entitled to be inscribed, in the roll of advocates, and has for not less than ten years –continuously or intermittently- (of which five years at least in Israel) been engaged in the profession of an advocate, served in a judicial capacity or other legal function in the service of the State of Israel or other service as designated in regulations in this regard, or has taught law at a university or a higher school of learning as designated in regulations in this regard. To the Supreme Court can also be appointed “an eminent jurist”.

Number of Judges

The number of Supreme Court justices is determined by a resolution of the Knesset. Usually, twelve justices serve in the Supreme Court. At the present time there are fourteen Supreme Court justices. At the head of the Supreme Court and at the head of the judicial system as a whole stands the President of the Supreme Court, and at his side, the Deputy President.

Powers

The Supreme Court is an appellate court, as well as the High Court of Justice.

Appellate Court

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, disciplinary rulings of the Bar Association, prisoners’ petitions and administrative detention.

High Court of Justice

As the High Court of Justice (Hebrew: Beit Din Gavoha Le'Zedek בית דין 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. It rules 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.

Further Hearing

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 decision to hold a further hearing is made whenever the Supreme Court makes a ruling inconsistent with a previous ruling or, where the importance, difficulty or novelty of a ruling made by the Supreme Court justifies such a further hearing.

Retrial

A special power, unique to the Supreme Court, is the power to order a “retrial” on a criminal matter, in which a final judgment has been given. A ruling to hold a retrial is made in the following circumstances: where the Court finds that evidence provided in the case was founded upon lies or was forged; where new facts or evidence are discovered that are likely to alter the decision in the case in favour of the accused; where someone else has meanwhile been convicted of carrying out the offence and it appears from the circumstances revealed in the trial of that other person that the original party convicted of the offence did not commit it; or, where there is a genuine concern that a miscarriage of justice has been done as a result of the conviction of the accused, all as prescribed by the law. In practise, a ruling to hold a retrial is made very rarely.

Composition

The Supreme Court, both as an appellate court and the High Court of Justice, is normally constituted of a panel of three justices. One Supreme Court justice alone may rule on interim orders, temporary orders or petitions for an order nisi, and on appeals on interim rulings of District Courts, or on judgments given by a single District Court judge on appeal, and on a judgment or decision of the Magistrates’ Courts. The Supreme Court sits as a panel of five justices or more in a ‘further hearing’ on a matter in which the Supreme Court sat with a panel of three justices. The Supreme Court may sit as a panel of a larger uneven number of justices than three in matters that involve fundamental legal questions and constitutional issues of particular importance.

Presiding Judge

In a case in which the President of the Supreme Court sits, the President is the Presiding Judge; in a case in which the Deputy President sits and the President does not sit, the Deputy President is the Presiding Judge; in any other case, the Judge with the greatest length of service is the Presiding Judge. The length of service, for this purpose, is calculated from the date of the appointment of the Judge to the Supreme Court

External Links

Israeli Judicial Authority
Jewish Virtual Library: The Judicial Branch

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