Superior

One who has a right to command; one who holds a superior rank; as, a soldier Is bound to obey his superior. In estates, some are superior to others. An estate entitled to a servitude or easement over another estate is called the "superior" or "dominant," and the other the "inferior" or "servient" estate. 1 Bouv. Inst, note 1612.

One who has a right to command; one who holds a superior rank; as, a soldier Is bound to obey his superior. In estates, some are superior to others; an estate entitled to a servitude or easement over another estate is called the superior or dominant, and the other the inferior or servient estate. 1 Bouvier, Inst n. 1612.

Higher; more elevated in rank or office. Possessing larger power. Entitled to command, influence or control over another. In estates, some are superior to others. An estate entitled to a servitude or easement over another estate is called the "superior" or "dominant," and the other, the "inferior" or "servient," estate. 1 Bouv. Inst. no. 1612. In the feudal law, until the statute quia emptores precluded subinfeudations, (q. v.,) the tenant who granted part of his estate to be held of and from himself as lord was called a "superior."

— Superior and vassal. In Scotch law. A feudal relation corresponding with the English "lord and tenant." Bell.

— Superior courts. In English law. The courts of the highest and most extensive jurisdiction, viz., the court of chancery and the three courts of common law, i. e., the queen's bench, the common pleas, and the exchequer, which sit at Westminster, were commonly thus denominated. But these courts are now united in the supreme ceurt of judicature. In American law. Courts of general or extensive jurisdiction, as <hstm-guished from the inferior courts. As the official style of a tribunal, the term "superior court" bears a different meaning in different states. In some it is a court of intermediate jurisdiction between the trial couris and the chief appellate court; elsewhere it is the designation of the ordinary ntsi prim courts ; in Delaware it is the court of last resort.

— Superior fellow servant. A term recently introduced into the law of negligence, and meaning one higher in authority than another, and whose commands and directions his inferiors are bound to respect and obey, though engaged at the same manual work. Illinois Cent. It. Co. v. Co.leman, 59 S. W. 14, 22 Ky. Law Rep. 878; Knutter v. Telephone Co., 67 N. J. Law, 646, 52 Atl. 565, 58 L. R. A. 808.

— Superior force. In the law of bailments and of negligence, an uncontrollable and irresistible force, of human agency, producing results which the person in question could not avoid; equivalent to the Latin phrase "vis major." See Vis.'

Higher in rank or authority. Superior courts: courts of a high and extensive jurisdiction; in America, commonly a court of large original jurisdiction, but, except for smaller matters, not of last resort; in England, formerly the court of chancery and the three common-law courts held at Westminster.

v. Couri, 7, 15, 109.

One who holds a position of authority; one having command, or vested with control. The head of a monastery is called the superior; and the directress of a nunnery, the lady superior. In the feudal law, until the statute quia emptores precluded subinfeudations (q. v.), the tenant who granted part of his estate to be held of and from himself as lord was called a superior. In Scotch law, the word applies to one of whom lands are held; thus answering to a lord in the feudal system. Superior court. A name frequently applied to courts of original jurisdiction, intermediate between the inferior courts and courts of last resort;, to which a limited appellate jurisdiction is sometimes added; and more rarely the name is used as the title of a court of last resort. In the United States, courts under this title exist in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, whose jurisdiction, respectively, extends throughout the whole of each state, or throughout all of the several counties or districts into which the state may be divided. In other states, the name is the title of a court or courts organized in a particular city or county, additional to the general judicial system. Such are the superior courts of Cook county, Illinois; of Marion county and Tippecanoe county, Indiana; of Cumberland county, Maine; of Baltimore city, Maryland; of Detroit and of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The expression "superior courts " has long been used, in England, to denote the court of chancery, the courts of queen's bench, common pleas, and exchequer; but they are now merged in the supreme court of judicature.