Federal Court, Court of Appeal, High Court in Malaya and High Court in Sabah and

Sawarak are consider as superior courts in Malaysia. Each of them has different jurisdiction
and characteristics. Jurisdiction is meant by the power of the court to make a judgment or a
particular order.  

First of all, Federal Court consists of two main types of jurisdiction which are original
jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction. Under appellate jurisdiction, it divides into civil
jurisdiction, criminal jurisdiction, referral jurisdiction and advisory jurisdiction. According to
the Act provided, Federal Court has the same original jurisdiction and may exercise the
same powers as the High Court. Furthermore, under Article 128 stated,(i) Federal Court has
an exclusive original jurisdiction to determine whether a law made by Parliament or by the
legislature of a State is invalid on the ground that it deals with a matter it has no power to
legislate; and (ii) decide disputes on any other question between the State of the Federation
or between the Federation and a State. For Appellate Jurisdiction, the Federal Court
commonly hears and determines civil and criminal appeals by from Court of Appeal. Other
than that, Federal Court has the right to order a new trial of any case tried by the High Court
in the exercise of its original or appellate jurisdiction. For civil appeals, as a safeguard,
according to section 100 CJA 1964, a new trial must not be granted on the ground of
improper rejection only if the Federal Court has the opinion that a failure of justice has been
caused by such impropriety. For criminal appear, under Section 90 CJA 1964, the Federal
Court must summarily dismiss an appeal that comes before it. Federal Court has to make
the decision whether to confirm, reverse, or vary the decision of the Court of Appeal, or
order a retrial the matter with its opinion to the High Court. For advisory jurisdiction, Yang
di-Pertuan Agong can refer to the Federal Court for its opinion toward the question which
has arisen. In such an event, Federal Court has to pronounce in an open court of its opinion
or decision in the form of declaratory judgment of the case so referred. The Federal Court is
heard by normally three judges, but for extra serious cases, it could be a greater uneven
number (Lawyerment, 2014). As a conclusion, the Federal Court has the jurisdiction to
decide or give instruction to a question which has arisen in another court concerning the
interpretation of Federal Constitution which is referred to it in the form of special case.
After the Federal Court has make a decision, it remits the case to the trial court to be
disposed of in accordance with that decision. While waiting for the decision by Federal
Court, the trial court may stay proceedings.   

Secondly, Court of Appeal consist of jurisdiction to estimate the appeals from the
decision of a High Court or judge thereof and jurisdiction as may be conferred by federal
law. The unique part of Court of Appeal is it does not contain original jurisdiction. The Court
of Appeal has only appellate jurisdiction. Under section 67 CJA 1964, the Court of Appeal
has the power of jurisdiction to hear and determine appeals cases from any judgment of
High Court in any civil cause or matter. It may order and instruct a new trial or reverse or
vary the decision of the High Court. However, not all cases that appealed by the high court
will be accepted and treated by the Court of Appeal. For example, if the amount of value of
the subject matter is less than RM250000 or the judgment relates to cost only, it will not
accept by the Court of Appeal. Furthermore, under Section 71 CJA 1964, the Court of Appeal
may order a new trial be exercised irrespective of whether the cases were tried by the High
Court in the exercise of its original or appellate jurisdiction. Unless the Court of Appeal has
its own opinion on that substantial wrong or lack of justice judgment occurred, a new trial
may not be granted only on the ground of improper admission or rejection of evidence. An
appeal made may lie on a question of the fact or on a question of mixed fact and law. Below
Section 50 (2) CJA 1964, an appeal may be made to the Court of Appeal with permission
against the decision of the High Court in exercise of its revisionary jurisdiction concerning a
criminal case heard by the Magistrate’s Courts. Other than that, the Court of Appeal can
decline the sentence that passed by the trial court if there is lack of justice occurred. It can
also pass such other sentences that warranted in law but banned by the trial court. Lastly,
the court of appeal has no power to review or re-open any appeal that has been heard and
disposed of by the Court Of Appeal. The Court of Appeal is the final court of appeal on the
matter which has been decided by the High Court in its appellate (LawTeacher,2021) 
 
 
Lastly, High Court consist of 3 jurisdictions which are original jurisdiction, appellate
jurisdiction and revisionary and supervisory jurisdiction. High Court has unlimited
jurisdiction in both criminal and civil cases. However, High Court normally tries only cases
outside the jurisdiction of the subordinate courts such as Session Court and Magistrate’s
Court. The cases tried by the High Court is much lesser than the subordinate court, due to
High Court is to be tried on serious cases which can be punishable with death. For civil
cases, the general jurisdiction of the High Court is set out in section 23 CJA 1964 which
subjected to the limitation contained in Article 128. For example, the High Court has
jurisdiction to try all civil matters such as the cause of action arose, divorce and matrimonial
causes, bankruptcy of company and so on.  For criminal cases, the general rules are about
the High Court having jurisdiction over people and criminal offenses committed within its
territory.  According to Section 22 (1)(a)(i) CJA 1964, the High Court in Malaya can only try
criminal offense committed in Peninsula Malaysia and its counterpart in Sabah and Sarawak,
only criminal offense committed in East Malaysia. Other than that, High Court also has the
power to hear the appeals from the subordinate court about civil and criminal cases.
According to Act A670, there is no appeal from the subordinate court toward the High Court
if the amount involve is less than RM10 000, except for question of law. Under section 26
CJA 1964, High Court has the ability to hear appeals of criminal cases from the subordinate
court according to any law then in force within the territorial jurisdiction of the High Court.
Furthermore, there is no appeal against an acquittal except with written sanction of the
Public Prosecutor. Moreover, High Court has revisionary jurisdiction over criminal and civil
cases handling by the subordinate court base on Section 31 CJA 1964. Also, with Section 35
augments the High Court’s revisionary jurisdiction with a more general supervisory
jurisdiction over all subordinate courts. It is to give the High Court adequate control and
supervision over the subordinated courts since the judges of High Court have more
experience. Lastly, according to Section 25 (2) CJA 1964 with Section 1 of the schedule to
the Act, the High Court has jurisdiction to review decisions of quasi-judicial bodies or
administrative. If there is lack of jurisdiction, blatant failure to perform some statutory duty
or breach of justice, the High Court may exercise control over the Native Courts through
prerogative writs. The High Court also had supervisory jurisdiction over the Syariah Courts
before 10 June 1988. However with the adding of clause (1A) to the Article 121 of the
Federal Constitution, it stated that High Court jurisdiction over all matters of Syariah Court
has been removed. Lastly, in the High Court in Malaya located at Kuala Lumpur,
specialization is done by categorizing the High Court into criminal division, appellate and
special power division and civil division. 
LawTeacher (2021) Free Law Study Resourse [online] Available at:

https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/constitutional-law/the-superior-courts-in-malaysia-
constitutional-law-essay.php#:~:text=The%20Federal%20Court%20has%20the,of%20evidence%20in
%20lower%20court. [Accessed on 16 June 2022]

Lawyerment (2014) What is Federal Court [online] Available at:

https://www.lawyerment.com/library/kb/Legal_Institutions/Judiciary/1512.htm

[Accessed on 16 June 2022]