General Assembly is the name usually given to the highest earthly court in the Presbyterian system. It is a representative and temporary body with powers of both review and original action. Usually, its business concerns the whole Church or denomination.
A General Assembly is made up of representatives, both ministers and ruling elders, of Presbyteries. Its membership is decided as to numbers by itself in conjunction with Presbyteries and as to persons by Presbyteries alone. Unlike Sessions and Presbyteries, it is not a permanent body. It meets to perform specific duties assigned to it; and, when those duties are complete, the Assembly sets a time and place for the meeting of the next General Assembly and dissolves itself.
One duty of an Assembly is to review the actions of lower courts. This is done by examination of records and by receiving referrals, appeals, and complaints from members of congregations or from lower courts and/or their members.
Another is to receive (or not receive) and decide on petitions from persons and overtures from lower courts requesting action which is of interest to or concerns the whole Church.
Yet another duty is to deal with actions which originate within itself. This includes receiving and acting upon the reports of its own committees and dealing with overtures which come from the floor of the Assembly.
Not every matter brought before a General Assembly can be disposed of immediately by it. See “The Presbyterian’s Alphabet: B is for Barrier Act”.
While General Assembly is the name usually given to the highest earthly court, some Presbyterian denominations do not have one. They might have a Synod or even merely a Presbytery. This can be for ecclesiological reasons or for practical reasons. The main ecclesiological reason is avoiding a charge of schism. Those who leave a Church which has a General Assembly and see themselves as replacing that Church have a General Assembly. A dissenting body which sees itself as remaining within the Church and associated with its courts uses the name of a lower court. The main practical reason is that smaller denominations do not need the full range of ecclesiastical courts and calling their highest court a General Assembly would appear pretentious.
As the highest earthly court, all cases and causes before all General Assemblies will be reviewed on the Last Day and adjusted in justice and equity according to both the letter and the spirit of God’s Word.