Supreme Court (Israel)

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The Supreme Court of Israel (2006)

The Supreme Court ( Hebrew בֵּית הַמִּשְׁפָּט הָעֶלְיוֹן Bejt ha-Mischpaṭ ha-ʿEljōn , German “Upper Court” ; Arabic المحكمة العليا, DMG Al-Mahkamah al-ʿUlyā ) forms the top of the judicial system in Israel . It is based in Jerusalem .

Court organization

The seat of the court is Jerusalem . According to the doctrine of stare decisis, his decisions are binding on all courts. The Supreme Court acts on the one hand as an appeal court and on the other hand as the High Court of Justice ( Hebrew בֵּית הַמִּשְׁפָּט גָּבוֹהַּ לְצֶדֶק B ejt Mischpaṭ G avōha lə- Z edeq , German 'High Court of Justice' ; Abbreviation B a g at z בָּגָּ״ץ) in particular for the principle control of the norms of laws.

The members of the Supreme Court, like all judges, are appointed by the President of the State of Israel on the proposal of a judges' election committee. The Judges' Election Committee consists of three members of the Supreme Court (including its President), two ministers (including the Minister of Justice), two members of the Knesset and two members of the Bar Association. The Minister of Justice chairs the meeting. The number of judges is determined by law and is currently 15. The term of office ends at the age of 70.

Esther Chajut has been the president of the court since October 26, 2017 .

Position in the legal system

The Supreme Court is the body that, as the highest, binding decision on the interpretation of existing laws. If formal legal provisions were not observed when a law was passed, he is entitled to declare the invalidity.

He cannot declare laws passed by the Knesset to be “unconstitutional” if they have been passed with the required majority. Basic laws that make up the Constitution of Israel are specially protected by law. They can only be changed with a majority of 70 of the 120 MPs. With regard to these basic laws, the Supreme Court is also a “constitutional court”.

From 1948 to 1992 the court sat in the east wing of the hospice of the Russian Spiritual Mission , 1860–1864 by Martin Eppinger , where the court of first instance continues to sit in 2013

building

Aerial photo of the new snow-covered building, 1998

The architects of the building, which was built from 1986 to 1992, are Ada Karmi-Melamede and her brother Ram Karmi , a representative of brutalism . The Supreme Court building is located between the Knesset, with which it is connected by a direct corridor, and the Prime Minister's residence. It symbolizes the connection between the legislative and executive branches and is strongly influenced by the Bible and the rules of the Jewish faith.

The modern building also contains elements of Byzantine style. It opens to a round arched courtyard with a fountain, similar to the Rockefeller Museum . In the entrance area, a narrow staircase leads upwards. A stone wall in Jerusalem on one side symbolizes the earthly laws, on the other hand a bare, flat wall symbolizes the heavenly laws. This comparison can be found in the whole complex: old - new, light - shadow, straight lines - curves, criticism - praise. The whole building is illuminated by a lot of skylights, so that artificial lighting can be dispensed with in daylight. The publicly accessible circular library opens onto a light-flooded pyramid whose circular windows illuminate the room. The pyramid was inspired by the tomb of Zacharias and the tomb of Absalom in the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem. The five sober courtrooms are lined up, the largest in the middle, the small on the flanks.

The courthouse, which opened in 1992, is a gift from Dorothy de Rothschild . Outside the President's office there is a letter from Ms. Rothschild to Prime Minister Shimon Peres announcing her intention to donate a new building for the Supreme Court.

museum

This contains numerous artifacts from the Turkish period of government through the British mandate to the present day.

  • Side view of the building

  • Library

  • Light-dark effects in one corridor

  • Mosaic from the Hamat Gader synagogue

  • Back of the building

Supreme Court Judge

President

Esther Chajut , the current President of the Israeli Supreme Court

Presidents of the Supreme Court were

From To Surname
1948 1954 Moses Smoira
1954 1965 Yitzchak Olshan
1965 1976 Shimon Agranate
1976 1980 Joel Zussman
1980 1982 Moshe Landau
1982 1983 Yitzchak Kahan
1983 1995 Meir Schamgar
1995 2006 Aharon Barak
2006 2012 Dorit Beinisch
2012 2015 Asher Grunis
2015 2017 Miriam Naor
2017 til today Esther Chajut

decisions

Relevant decisions by the Supreme Court are:

  • In 1979 the court ruled that no Israeli settlements may be built on land that is privately owned by Palestinians.
  • On June 30, 2004, the Supreme Court upheld the claims of individual Palestinians and ordered a 30 km route of the Israeli barriers to be changed to the West Bank, northwest of Jerusalem , in order to reduce the nuisance to the Palestinian population . According to the court's guidelines, the fence must not be political, it must not define a state border , and it must not cause unjustified damage to the quality of life of the Palestinian population.
  • On August 31, 2017, the court dismissed the lawsuit instituting marriage for all . This was justified by the fact that marriage is not a fundamental human right for everyone and, according to previous law, the religious communities decide on marriage; Parliament would have to decide on any change .
  • On June 9, 2020, a law expropriating Palestinian landowners in the West Bank was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. With the law passed by the Knesset in 2017 , the state could have confiscated private Palestinian land on which settlers had built 4,000 residential units. The expropriated would have received compensation of 125 percent.

Web links

Commons : Israel supreme court  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ מידע אישי על השופטים - קורות חיים של אסתר חיות. In: elyon1.court.gov.il. Retrieved December 23, 2017 (Hebrew).
  2. ^ Michael Wolffsohn , Douglas Bokovoy: Israel: Grundwissen-Länderkunde. History, politics, society, economy (1882–1996) . Opladen 1996, ISBN 3-8100-1310-2 , pp. 59ff.
  3. ^ The Pyramid - The Library. Accessed March 24, 2016 .
  4. ^ Obituaries - Dorothy de Rothschild, 93, Supporter of Israel. In: The New York Times. December 13, 1988, accessed March 24, 2016 .
  5. ^ The President's Chamber. Accessed March 24, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Newsletter of the Embassy of the State of Israel from January 19, 2015
  7. ^ Nadav Shragai: Blow to settlement movement. In: Haaretz . November 21, 2006, accessed May 9, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Q&A: What is the West Bank barrier? BBC News , September 15, 2005
  9. ↑ Sebastian Maas, Marc Röhlig bento: Israel decides against marriage for everyone. Bento - the young magazine from Spiegel, September 1, 2017, accessed on April 3, 2020 .
  10. ↑ a b DER SPIEGEL: West Bank: Supreme Court blocks subsequent legalization of Israeli settlements - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved June 10, 2020 .
  11. ^ Supreme Court overturns Palestinian dispossession law. Israel Network, June 10, 2020, accessed June 16, 2020 .

Coordinates: 31 ° 46 ′ 51.8 "  N , 35 ° 12 ′ 14.6"  E