A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, apex court, and highest 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.

However, not all highest courts are named as such. Civil law states do not tend to have singular highest courts. 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several Canadian provinces/territories and the former Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales, which are all superseded by higher Courts of Appeal.

The Supreme Court (French Cour Suprême) is the highest judicial body in Cameroon. As defined in Article V of the Constitution of Cameroon, the Supreme Court is above the courts of appeal and the tribunals. It is nominally independent of the executive and legislative branches of government, subject only to the oversight of the Higher Judicial Council. The justices are appointed by the president of Cameroon. The court is headquartered in Yaoundé.

The Supreme Court is an appellate court made up of three parts: the judicial, administrative, and audit benches. The judicial bench rules on standard cases appealed from the lower courts. the administrative bench handles cases involving the state, such as election disputes and appellate cases involving the government. This branch can hear such cases on the first instance. The audit bench takes cases relating to public accounts of public and semi-private entities. The Supreme Court may only rule on the constitutionality of law at the behest of the president of Cameroon. The body typically decides appeals only on point of law.

The Supreme Court of Chile is the highest court in Chile. It also administrates the lower courts in the nation. It is located in the capital Santiago.

In the Chilean system, the court lacks the broader power of judicial review — it cannot set binding precedent or invalidate laws. Instead, it acts on a case-by-case basis. Trials are carried out in salas, chambers of at least five judges, presided over by the most senior member.

Membership

The members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President, but must be chosen from a list of five choices which is prepared by the sitting members of the court. Two of these choices must be senior judges from appellate courts; the other three need not have any judicial experience. The president's choice must then be ratified by a two-thirds majority of the Senate.

Supreme Court justices must be at least 36 years old. Once appointed, a Chilean Supreme Court justice is extremely difficult to remove from office. Justices are entitled to remain on the Court until the compulsory retirement age of 75. Otherwise, a justice can be removed only if he or she incurs in "notorious abandonment of duty", as deemed by a majority of both chambers of Congress.

The Supreme Court of Finland (Finnish: korkein oikeus, Swedish: högsta domstolen), located in Helsinki, consists of a President and at minimum 15, currently 18, other Justices, usually working in five-judge panels. Its jurisdiction does not extend to the administrative court system or the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland.

The most important function of the Supreme Court is to rule on important points of law in cases which are significant for the entire legal order, guiding the administration of justice in future cases. Decisions of courts of appeal, as well as certain decisions of the Insurance Court may be appealed against to the Supreme Court, provided that it grants leave to appeal. In the rare criminal cases where a court of appeals acts as a court of first instance, the leave to appeal is not needed. (Cases of espionage, treason and criminal cases involving high civil servants or officers of at least major's rank fall into this category.)

The Supreme Court may annul final decisions of courts on the grounds provided in Chapter 31 of the Code of Judicial Procedure. The Court also handles complaints concerning errors in procedure. In some cases the Court may restore the right of appeal after the expiration of a specified period of time.