One who has a right to command; one who holds a superior rank; as, a soldier is bound to obey his superior. 2. 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. 3. Of courts, some are supreme or superior, possessing in -general appellate jurisdiction, either by writ of error or by appeal; 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 2527; the others are called inferior courts.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
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 emptore8 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, t. e.y 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 court of judicature. In American law. Courts of general’ or extensive jurisdiction, as distinguished 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 courts and the chief appellate court; elsewhere it is the designation of the ordinary nisi prius 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. 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.