King's Bench jurisdiction

King's Bench jurisdiction includes the power to vacate the judgments of inferior courts when acting in extraordinary circumstances, for example, where the importance of an issue to public well-being or the expediency with which action must be taken in the interest of justice requires superseding normal judicial or appellate procedures.

Carroll v. Tate, 442 Pa. 45, 274 A.2d 193, 196–97 (1971) ) (General Assembly has no authority to remove by statute attributes of governmental entity implicitly necessary to carry into effect entity's constitutional duties).Troubles and public feuds involved the supreme court in the early 1990s,[6] specifically including Justice Rolf Larsen, who was criminally convicted and impeached by the House, then subsequently convicted and removed from office by the State Senate.

The upheaval surrounding Justice Larsen's time on the bench served as a catalyst for a change in the state judicial discipline system.

[7] Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts credits the public turmoil he caused with leading to the overwhelming passage of a constitutional amendment that strengthened the way judges are disciplined for misconduct.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court invoked its King's Bench jurisdiction to intervene swiftly, vacating thousands of juvenile convictions that Ciavarella had wrongfully imposed.

The Court of King's Bench at work. This illuminated manuscript from about 1460 is the earliest known depiction of the English court. It shows the judges of the court, clerks, lawyers and, at the bottom of the illustration, guards watching chained prisoners awaiting trial. [ 2 ]