The patent question is at issue in a case the Justices will hear next month.

If both parties appear, the justices must hear and determine the case.

Otherwise, the judge or justice of the peace can hear the bail hearing.

The justices will hear the case in the fall and are unlikely to decide it before a year from now.

What follows is a detailed look at some of the cases the justices will hear in the coming weeks.

There is, of course, no requirement that the nine Justices hear the case.

Microsoft has seven days in which to decide whether to ask the justices to hear an appeal.

It should take five justices, not the usual "rule of four," to hear such an appeal, he said.

The justices heard oral evidence and, after a hearing lasting nearly three hours, made the agreed order.

The justice then heard the mercer and his man.