Federal court

Federal court may refer to a court of the national government in a country that has a federal system of government; see federalism. Examples include:

Federal judiciary of the United States

The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three co-equal branches of the Federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. Article III of the Constitution requires the establishment of a Supreme Court and permits the Congress to create other federal courts, and place limitations on their jurisdiction. Article III Federal judges are appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate to serve until they resign, are impeached and convicted, retire, or die.

Courts

The federal courts are composed of three levels of courts. The Supreme Court of the United States is the court of last resort. It is generally an appellate court that operates under discretionary review, which means that the Court can choose which cases to hear, by granting of writs of certiorari. There is generally no right of appeal to the Supreme Court. In a few situations (like lawsuits between state governments or some cases between the federal government and a state) it sits as a court of original jurisdiction.

Federal Court (Canada)

The Federal Court (French: Cour fédérale) is a Canadian trial court that hears cases arising under certain areas of federal law. The Federal Court is an inferior court with nationwide jurisdiction. The Court was created on July 2, 2003 by the Courts Administration Service Act when it and the Federal Court of Appeal were split from their predecessor, the Federal Court of Canada (which was created June 1, 1971, through the enactment of the Federal Court Act, subsequently renamed the Federal Courts Act). The Court's authority comes from the Federal Courts Act.

On October 24, 2008, the Federal Court was given its own Armorial bearings by the Governor General, the third court in Canada to be given its own Coat of Arms – after the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The coat of arms features a newly created fantastical creature, the winged sea caribou, as the supporters, representing the provision of justice on air, land and sea.

Structure

Lord President

The title Lord President may refer to one of several offices:

In fiction

Time Lord

The Time Lords are a fictional, ancient extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' protagonist, the Doctor, is a member. Time Lords are so named for their command of time travel technology and their non-linear perception of time. Originally they were described as a powerful and wise race from the planet Gallifrey, from which the Doctor was a renegade; details beyond this were very limited for the first decade of the series. They later became integral to many episodes and stories as their role in the fictional universe developed. For the first eight years after the series resumed in 2005, the Time Lords were said to have been destroyed at some point between the original series' cancellation in 1989 and the show's revival during the fictional Last Great Time War. In 2013, the 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" concerned this supposed destruction and their eventual survival.

They developed a culture of custodianship and time-related technologies based on this perception which includes strictly controlled space/time travel machines (known as "TARDISes") and monitoring devices to travel through time and to prevent time from being subverted or abused—although actual action was described as rare in practice due to their traditional policy of strict non-interference and neutrality. They can act to manipulate timelines of a wide range of events and individuals, so long as they do not cross back into their own timeline. Over subsequent episodes their history, their development of time manipulation, and their internal politics were touched upon, with Time Lord society portrayed as a stagnated ceremony-bound oligarchy and their past having descended into myth and legend. The Doctor became at times an ally, being appointed their president during his fourth incarnation and assisting them on many occasions.

Lord President of the Supreme Court

The title of Lord President of the Supreme Court was formerly the title of the head of the judiciary in Malaysia, until 1994 when the office was renamed "Chief Justice of the Federal Court".

The Lord President was head of the highest court in Malaysia after the abolition of appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1985. Below him were the Chief Justices of the High Courts of Malaya and Borneo (and, until 1969, Singapore: see Law of Singapore).

History

Origins

The office of Lord President of the Federal Court was created with the formation of Malaysia in 1963. The first Lord President of Malaysia was Tun Sir James Thomson, previously Chief Justice of Malaya, and a Scotsman. It is after the Scottish office of Lord President of the Court of Session that the office was named.

When the right of appeal to the Privy Council was abolished in 1985, the Federal Court was renamed the Supreme Court and the title changed accordingly.

The 1988 constitutional crisis