Kenya is a country in which the Judiciary of Kenya is the system of courts which interprets as well as applies the law. There are courts both at the federal level and the state level and each is responsible for its own set of functions and responsibilities.
The entire court system is divided into a hierarchical system wherein the superior courts consist of Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, High court and Industrial court etc. whereas the subordinate courts are made up of Magistrate court, Kadhi court and others. To understand the hierarchical system of courts in Kenya, you can read the following given information.
THE SUPERIOR COURTS
The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is the Apex court which is comprised of the Chief Justice, The President, the deputy chief justice and five other judges. The word of the Supreme Court is final and cannot be negated by any other court. All the other courts fall beneath this court.
The Court of Appeal
This is the court which handles the appeal cases from the High court as well as those as prescribed by the President. This court comprises of not less than 12 judges and is headed by the President who is appointed by the Chief Justice.
The High Court
This court has the supervisory jurisdiction over all the lower or subordinate courts and other persons.
Industrial Court of Kenya
Next in the hierarchy of the Superior courts in Kenya comes the Industrial court of Kenya which was established for the purpose of handling issues or cases related to employment and industrial relations etc.
Environment and Land Court
This court is responsible for hearing and settling disputes which are related to the environment.
THE SUBORDINATE COURTS
Magistrate Court
This is the case where the majority of judiciary cases are heard and these courts are located in each of the district of Kenya. A chief magistrate heads each of the courts and some others who are part of this court are the Senior Principal Magistrate, Senior Resident Magistrate, Resident Magistrate and others.
Kadhi Court
This is the court which is responsible for hearing civil and criminal matters which are related to Islamic law. This court is headed by a chief Kadhi
Courts Martial
This is the military court of Kenya which mostly hears or settles those cases which are related to the Kenya Defense Forces. Appeals that move on from this court are heard by the High court.
Know about Kenya Political Hierarchy.