Judicial Committee of The Privy Council

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council (s. 3), it is the highest court of appeal (or court of last resort) for several independent Commonwealth countries, the British Overseas Territories and the British Crown dependencies. It is often referred to as the Privy Council, as in most cases appeals are made to "Her Majesty in Council" (i.e. the British monarch as formally advised by her Privy Counsellors), who then refers the case to the Judicial Committee for "advice"; the "report" of the Judicial Committee is always accepted by the Queen in Council as judgment. The panel of judges (typically five in number) hearing a particular case is known as "the Board".

In Commonwealth republics retaining the JCPC as their final court of appeal, appeals are made directly to the Judicial Committee itself. In the case of Brunei, appeals are made to the Sultan of Brunei, who then refers the case to the Judicial Committee for advice.

Formerly the Judicial Committee gave a unanimous report, but since the 1960s dissenting opinions have been allowed. In July 2007, the Judicial Committee held that it had the power to depart from precedent if it concluded that one of its own previous decisions was incorrect.

The Judicial Committee's permanent home is in London, in the United Kingdom. On 1 October 2009, it moved from the Privy Council Chamber, in Downing Street, to the former Middlesex Guildhall building, which had been refurbished in 2007 to provide a home for both the JCPC and the newly-created Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. In this renovated building, Court 3 is used for Privy Council sittings.

The judicial system of the United Kingdom does not have a single highest national court; the Judicial Committee is the highest court of appeal in some cases, while in most others the highest court of appeal is the UK Supreme Court. (In Scotland the highest court in criminal cases is the High Court of Justiciary; the UK Supreme Court is the highest court in civil cases and matters arising from Scottish devolution, the latter previously having been dealt with by the Judicial Committee.) Judgments of the Judicial Committee are not generally binding on courts within the United Kingdom, having only persuasive authority, but are binding on all courts within any other Commonwealth country from which an appeal is heard.