English history, American colonial experience in the operation of the national government under articles of Confederation provide the background to the United States Supreme Court authorized by article 3 of the Federal Constitution. By the time there was an English colonisation of North America, there were three common-law courts with the Court of Common pleas, Kings bench and the Exchequer. The first exercised general civil jurisdiction, the second was a criminal trial court with certain appellate authority on the third originated as a revenue collection agency but later determined controversies to which the crown was a party.

These four courts formed the basis of a colonial court systems and variations between colonial systems resulted from assigning jurisdiction courts of a different name or combining types of jurisdiction within one or more courts. After 1686 the number of colonies adopted the jurisdictional pattern established by Sir Edwin and Ross for the Dominion of New England. This placed the jurisdiction, and common pleas, the King's bench and the Exchequer into a single common-law court usually called the Supreme Court judicature or the Supreme Judicial Court. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and some other jurisdictions the functions of the Chancery Court were performed by the common law courts but it was usually the case that chancery powers are exercised by separate chance records and in most cases composed of a colonial governor and members of his council. American colonial legal system is driven heavily upon the English court system to their concepts of jurisdiction but they also tended to combine types of jurisdiction that are historical reasons remain separate in England. The Supreme Court of the United States, exercising both common-law and equity jurisdiction represents a continuance of this American trend.

Separate from the English common law and chance records was a High Court of Admiralty established around 1360 which decided civil disputes that occurred on the high seas and punish crimes and piracy and in time of war exercised prize jurisdiction necessary to award an enemy vessel and its cargo to the capturing crew. American colonial Admiralty Courts formally established around 1696 perform these functions under the appellate control of English High Court of Admiralty. In this way, the antecedents for the United States Supreme Court were laid.