Judicial Power

The Heritage Guide to the Constitution is intended to provide a brief and accurate explanation of each clause of the Constitution.

What is the 'judiciary?' How does it work? What can it do and when? The U.S. court system has two main levels, two types of practice, and two types of law, but is actually pretty easy to understand.

The judiciary has played a key role in American history and remains a powerful voice in resolving contemporary controversies. This lesson provides an introduction to the Supreme Court.

Judicial power is the power ''of a court to decide and pronounce a judgment and carry it into effect between persons and parties who bring a case before it for decision.'' 122 It is ''the right to determine actual controversies arising between diverse litigants, duly instituted in courts of proper jurisdiction.''

Judicial power is the authority vested in courts and judges. It is the authority to hear and decide cases and to make binding judgments on them.

The court first authorized to recognize a case, hold trial, and render a decision is said to have original jurisdiction.

The judiciary (also known as the judicial system or court system) is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. In some nations, under doctrines of separation of powers, the judiciary generally does not make law (which is the responsibility of the legislature) or enforce law (which is the responsibility of the executive), but rather interprets law and applies it to the facts of each case.

The constitutional authority vested in courts and judges to hear and decide justiciable cases, and to interpret, and enforce or void, statutes when disputes arise over their scope or constitutionality.

The judicial branch of the government hears cases and interprets the law. There are many examples of judicial powers.