Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, usually shortened to the JCPC, is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. It was established on 14 August 1833 to hear appeals that had earlier gone to the King in Council, and for a long period it acted as the court of last resort for the whole British Empire apart from the United Kingdom itself. Formally it is a statutory committee of the Privy Council rather than a separate court, made up of senior judges who are privy counsellors, mostly justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom together with senior judges from Commonwealth countries. A panel of typically five judges, known as the Board, hears each case, and its report is by convention always accepted as the judgment. The committee is based in London.