JUDICIARY, the body of judges or mag istrates who exercise their authority either singly or as tribunals, interpreting the laws which the legislatures make and the executives execute. The highest courts in all countries, and those mostly of an intermediate character, are held by a bench of judges, rather than by a single magistrate. Dominating all is usually a supreme court which determines all legal con troversies of national concern. In nations un der a federal system of government, the judicial power is usually divided between two separate and distinct classes of courts: federal courts exercising judicial power in respect to questions of national concern and state courts established for the determination of legal controversies of a local character.
The Judiciary Act of the United States Con gress, 24 Sept. 1789 (1 Stat. 73), is non embodied with the amendments in the provisions of the United States. The act established the Federal courts of the United States, defined their jurisdiction and powers and regulated procedure. The basis of the whole legal system of the country is the common law (q.v.), with
out which there would be an extraordinary variety of judicial organization and procedure throughout the nation, each State having its own separate and distinct judicial system and procedure; framed according to its own notions of its local needs and conditions. Above all other governmental departments the Federal judiciary especially, and the judiciary in general, command popular confidence and respect. The importance and political influence the judiciary possesses have been largely increased from the power which the American courts have attained in declaring statutes null and void when they are found to conflict with the Constitution.
From the beginning this power has been recog nized almost without dispute. While State judges are for the most part elected by the people, all Federal judges are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. In regard to terms of judicial tenure, there is a great variety of opinion and practice throughout the United States. See COURT;