Vanilla JS, не 100% кросс-браузер.В том числе в качестве справки для будущих читателей / альтернативный метод.
function getHighIndex (selector) {
// No granularity by default; look at everything
if (!selector) { selector = '*' };
var elements = document.querySelectorAll(selector) ||
oXmlDom.documentElement.selectNodes(selector),
i = 0,
e, s,
max = elements.length,
found = [];
for (; i < max; i += 1) {
e = window.getComputedStyle(elements[i], null).zIndex || elements[i].currentStyle.zIndex;
s = window.getComputedStyle(elements[i], null).position || elements[i].currentStyle.position;
// Statically positioned elements are not affected by zIndex
if (e && s !== "static") {
found.push(parseInt(e, 10));
}
}
return found.length ? Math.max.apply(null, found) : 0;
}