<P> A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in many legal jurisdictions . Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and highest (or final) court of appeal . Broadly speaking, the decisions of a supreme court are not subject to further review by any other court . Supreme courts typically function primarily as appellate courts, hearing appeals from decisions of lower trial courts, or from intermediate - level appellate courts . </P> <P> However, not all highest courts are named as such . Civil law states tend not to have a single highest court . Additionally, the highest court in some jurisdictions is not named the "Supreme Court", for example, the High Court of Australia; this is because decisions by the High Court could formerly be appealed to the Privy Council . On the other hand, in some places the court named the "Supreme Court" is not in fact the highest court; examples include the New York Supreme Court, the Supreme Courts of several Canadian provinces / territories and the former Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales and Supreme Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland, which are all subordinate to higher courts of appeal . </P>

What kind of court is the supreme court