Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as the Supreme Court were made official in 1722, when it was reorganized as a body separate from the control of the colonial governor. It is described as the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The court meets in three cities, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and consists of seven justices elected to ten year terms. It keeps a discretionary docket, so it chooses which cases to hear, except for mandatory death penalty appeals and certain appeals from the original jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Court. It hears appeals from the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.