Question

I mean, how can I find which of two elements belongs to a node nearest to ‘document’ or ‘window’? which is higher in hierarchy?

EDIT
this gets the job done:

function gerarchia(elem) { 
  var i=0; 
  while (elem.parentNode) { 
    elem = elem.parentNode; 
    i++; 
  } 
  return i; 
} 

Answer 1

Try .parents().length, like this:

if ( $(element1).parents().length > $(element2).parents().length ) {
  // lower
}
else {
  // higher
}