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The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá’à Faith. Its messages and statements are authoritative guidance to the Bahá’à community and its legislative decisions are infallible although they may be amended by the Universal House of Justice itself.
It is an elected body consisting of nine members who are elected for five year terms with members of every National Spiritual Assembly[1] casting votes at an International Convention. Its function within the Bahá’à Faith is legislative and it has the authority and responsibility to supplement and apply the Bahá’à laws revealed by Bahá’u’lláh and also serves as a judicial body as the Head of the Bahá’à Administrative Order. It is also responsible for guiding, organizing, and coordinating the activities of the international Bahá’à community, answering questions from the community, and resolving points of disagreement on Bahá’à matters causing disunity within the community.
The sphere of jurisdiction of the Universal House of Justice consists of anything not explicitly covered in the Bahá’à Writings, which were revealed by Bahá’u’lláh[2] and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá[3], and it does not have the authority to overrule or alter anything which is addressed in the Writings. The way in which it conducts legislation is also defined by the writings of Shoghi Effendi[4], the Guardian of the Bahá’à Faith, who was the infallible interpreter of the Writings.