Belize
Summary Jurisdiction Courts (criminal) and District Courts
(civil jurisdiction); Supreme Court (the chief justice is appointed
by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister); Court
of Appeal; Privy Council in the UK; member of the Caribbean Court of
Justice (CCJ)
Benin
Constitutional Court or Cour Constitutionnelle; Supreme Court
or Cour Supreme; High Court of Justice
Bermuda
Supreme Court; Court of Appeal; Magistrate Courts
Bhutan
Supreme Court of Appeal (the monarch); High Court (judges
appointed by the monarch); note - the draft constitution establishes
a Supreme Court that will serve as chief court of appeal
Bolivia
Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges appointed for 10-year
terms by National Congress); District Courts (one in each
department); provincial and local courts (to try minor cases);
Constitutional Tribunal (five primary or titulares and five
alternate or suplente magistrates appointed by Congress; to rule on
constitutional issues); National Electoral Court (six members
elected by Congress, Supreme Court, the president, and the political
party with the highest vote in the last election for four-year
terms); note - under the 2009 Constitution, all Constitutional and
Supreme Court judges will be elected by popular vote
Bosnia and Herzegovina
BH Constitutional Court (consists of nine
members: four members are selected by the Bosniak/Croat Federation's
House of Representatives, two members by the Republika Srpska's
National Assembly, and three non-Bosnian members by the president of
the European Court of Human Rights); BH State Court (consists of
nine judges and three divisions - Administrative, Appellate and
Criminal - having jurisdiction over cases related to state-level law
and appellate jurisdiction over cases initiated in the entities); a
War Crimes Chamber opened in March 2005
note: the entities each have a Supreme Court; each entity also has a
number of lower courts; there are 10 cantonal courts in the
Federation, plus a number of municipal courts; the Republika Srpska
has five municipal courts
Botswana
High Court; Court of Appeal; Magistrates' Courts (one in
each district)
Brazil
Supreme Federal Tribunal or STF (11 ministers are appointed
for life by the president and confirmed by the Senate); Higher
Tribunal of Justice; Regional Federal Tribunals (judges are
appointed for life); note - though appointed "for life," judges,
like all federal employees, have a mandatory retirement age of 70
British Virgin Islands
Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, consisting
of the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal (one judge of
the Supreme Court is a resident of the islands and presides over the
High Court); Magistrate's Court; Juvenile Court; Court of Summary
Jurisdiction
Brunei
Supreme Court - chief justice and judges are sworn in by
monarch for three-year terms; Judicial Committee of Privy Council in
London is final court of appeal for civil cases; Sharia courts deal
with Islamic laws (2006)