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APPEAL

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 217 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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APPEAL  , in See also:

law . In the old See also:English See also:common law the See also:term " appeal " was used to describe a See also:process See also:peculiar to English criminal See also:procedure . It was a right of See also:prosecution possessed as a See also:personal See also:privilege by a party individually aggrieved by a See also:felony, a privilege of which the See also:crown could not directly or indirectly deprive him, since he could use it alike when the prisoner was tried and acquitted, and when he was convicted and pardoned . It was chiefly known in practice as the privilege of the nearest relation of a murdered See also:person . When in 1729 (after See also:Colonel See also:Oglethorpe's inquiry and See also:report on the See also:London prisons) See also:Ban-See also:bridge and other gaolers were indicted for their treatment of prisoners, but were acquitted for deficiency of See also:evidence, appeals for See also:murder were freely brought by relatives of deceased prisoners . In the See also:case of Slaughterford (1708) the accused was charged with murdering a woman whom he had seduced; the evidence was very imperfect, and he was acquitted on See also:indictment . But public indignation being aroused by the atrocities alleged to have been perpetrated, an appeal was brought, and on conviction he was hanged, as his See also:execution was a privilege belonging to the prosecutor, of which the crown could not 'deprive him by a See also:pardon . In 1818 an appeal was ingeniously met by an offer of See also:battle, since if the appellee were an able-bodied See also:man he had the choice between combat or a See also:jury (see See also:WAGER) . This neutralizing of one obsolete and barbarous process by another called the See also:attention of the legislature to the subject, and appeal in criminal cases, along with trial by battle, was abolished in 1819 . The See also:history of this appeal is fully dealt with in See also:Pollock and See also:Maitland, History of English Law, 1898 . In its usual See also:modern sense the term appeal is applied to the proceeding by which the decision of a See also:court of See also:justice is brought for See also:review before another tribunal of higher authority . In See also:Roman See also:jurisprudence it was used in this and in other significations; it was sometimes See also:equivalent to prosecution, or the calling up of an accused person before a tribunal where the accuser appealed to the See also:protection of the See also:magistrate against injustice or oppression .

The derivation from appellare (" See also:

call ") suggests that its earliest meaning was an urgent outcry or See also:prayer against injustice . During the See also:republic the magistrate was generally supreme within his See also:sphere, and those who See also:felt themselves out-raged by injustice threw themselves on popular protection by provocatio, instead of looking to redress from a higher See also:official authority . Under the See also:empire different grades of See also:jurisdiction were established, and the ultimate remedy was an appeal to the See also:emperor; thus See also:Paul, when brought before See also:Festus, appealed unto See also:Caesar . Such appeals were, however, not heard by the emperor in person but by a supreme See also:judge representing him . In the Corpus See also:Juris the appeal to the emperor is called in-discriminately appellatio and provocatio . A considerable portion of the 49th See also:book of the See also:Pandects is devoted to appeals; but little of the See also:practical operation of the See also:system is to be deduced from the propositions there brought together . During the See also:middle ages full See also:scope was afforded for appeals from the See also:lower to the higher authorities in the See also:church . In matters ecclesiastical, including those matrimonial, testamentary and other departments, which the church, ever tried to bring within the operation of the See also:canon law, there were various grades of appeal, ending with the See also:pope . The claims of the church to engross appeals in matters trenching on the temporal rights of princes led to continual conflicts between church and See also:state, terminated in See also:England at the See also:reformation by the suppression in 1534 of appeals to See also:Rome, which had previously been discouraged by legislation of See also:Edward III. and See also:Richard II . In temporal, as distinct from spiritual matters, it became customary for ambitious sovereigns to encourage appeals from the courts of the crown vassals to themselves as represented by the supreme See also:judges, and See also:Charlemagne usually enjoys the See also:credit of having set the example of this system of centralization by establishing missi dominici . It is not improbable that his claim was suggested or justified by the practice of the Roman empire, lo the See also:sovereignty whereof he claimed to be successor . England.—When the royal authority in England See also:grew strong as against that of the tenants in capite, the See also:king's courts in England were more effectively organized, and their See also:net swept wider so as to draw within their See also:cognizance matters previously adjudged in courts See also:baron or courts leet or in the See also:county court, and they acquired authority to supervise and review the decisions of the inferior and See also:local courts, to See also:control and limit their claims to exercise jurisdiction, and to See also:transfer causes from the local to the royal courts .

The machinery by which this process was usually effected, under the common law, was not by what is now known as appeal, but by the process of certiorari or writs of See also:

error or See also:prohibition . Recourse was also had against the decisions of the royal courts by appeal to the See also:great See also:council of the king, or to See also:parliament as a whole . The supremacy of the king's courts over all causes, as well ecclesiastical as See also:civil, has been completely established since the reign of See also:Henry VIII., and they have effectually asserted the See also:power to regulate and keep within their proper jurisdiction all other tribunals within the See also:realm . Since that date the organization of judicial tribunals has gradually been changed and improved with the See also:object (1) of creating a judicial See also:hierarchy See also:independent of executive control; (2) of ensuring that all decisions on questions of law shall be co-ordinated and rendered systematic by correction of the errors and vagaries of subordinate tribunals; and (3) of securing so far as possible uniformity in the judicial See also:interpretation and See also:administration of the law, by creating a supreme appellate tribunal to whose decisions all other tribunals are See also:bound to conform . It would be undesirable to detail at length the history of appellate jurisdiction in England, involving as it would the discussion in great detail of the history and procedure of English law, and it may suffice to indicate the system of appeals as at See also:present organized, beginning with the lowest courts . Justices of the See also:Peace.—The decisions of justices of the peace sitting as courts of See also:summary jurisdiction are subject to review on questions of law only by the High Court of Justice . This review is in a sense consultative, because it is usually effected by means of a case voluntarily stated by the justices at the See also:request of the aggrieved party, in which are set forth the facts as deter-See also:mined by the justices, the questions of law raised and their decision thereon, as to the correctness whereof the See also:opinion of the High Court is invited . The procedure is equally open in criminal and civil matters brought before the justices . But when the justices decline to state a case for the opinion of the High Court, the latter, if review seems desirable, may See also:order the justices to state a case . And the High Court has also power to control the See also:action of justices by prohibiting them from acting in a case beyond their jurisdiction, ordering them to exercise jurisdiction where they have improperly declined (See also:mandamus), or bringing up for review, and quashing orders or convictions which they have made in excess of jurisdiction, or in cases in which interested or biassed justices have adjudicated (certiorari) . None of these regulative processes exactly corresponds to what is popularly known as an appeal, but in effect if not in See also:form an appeal is thus given . There is also another form of appeal, in the fullest sense of the term, from the decision of justices sitting as a court of summary jurisdiction to the justices of the same county sitting in See also:general or See also:quarter sessions, or in the case of a See also:borough to the See also:recorder as judge of the borough court of quarter sessions .

This form of appeal is in every case the creation of See also:

statute: and even in See also:text-books it is hardly possible to find a really See also:complete See also:list of the matters in respect of which such appeal lies . But as regards criminal cases there is an approximately general See also:rule, given by § 19 of the Summary Jurisdiction See also:Act 1879, viz. that an appeal to quarter sessions lies from the conviction or order of a court of summary jurisdiction directing imprisonment without the See also:option of a See also:fine as a See also:punishment for an offence, or for failing to do or to abstain from doing any act required to be done or See also:left undone other than an order for the See also:payment of See also:money, or to find sureties or give See also:security or to enter into a See also:recognizance, or a conviction made on a plea of guilty or See also:admission of the truth of the See also:matter of complaint . As a general rule, subject to particular statutory exceptions, appeals of this See also:kind are by way of rehearing, i.e. the actor or prosecutor must before the appellate tribunal call his witnesses and prove his case just as if no previous See also:hearing had taken See also:place before the court appealed from (See also:Pritchard, Quarter Sessions Practice, 2nd ed., 461) . The only limit is that the appellant must confine himself to the grounds of appeal stated in the See also:notice of appeal given by him . Justices in Quarter Sessions.—This tribunal has under the See also:commission of the peace and under statute power to refer questions of difficulty arising before it for decision to the High Court . The old mode of exercising this power was by sending on to assizes indictments raising difficult questions which had been presented at quarter sessions . The High Court has ex officio power to transfer such indictments where the nature of the case and the demands of justice call for such transfer: The quarter sessions had also power under statute on trying an indictment to refer to the court for crown cases reserved (Crown Cases Act 1848), abolished by the Criminal Appeal Act 1907, questions of law which had arisen at the trial, and in all civil cases the quarter sessions has power of its own volition and subject to no See also:direct compulsion to consult the High Court on legal questions of difficulty which have arisen . Until 1894 this jurisdiction was regarded as consultative only. ht was and is exercised by stating the facts, of which the court of quarter sessions is the See also:sole judge, and indicating the questions of law arising on the facts, and the view of quarter sessions thereon, and inviting the opinion of the High Court . Under the Judicature Act 1894 cases stated in this way are now treated as "appeals" in the popular sense . Inferior Courts of purely Civil Jurisdiction.—An appeal also lies as a general rule to the High Court from the See also:judgment of a county court or of any inferior tribunal having civil jurisdiction . (a) County Courts . Any party to an action or matter in a county court who is dissatisfied with the determination or direction of the judge in law or See also:equity, or upon the admission or rejection of any evidence, may appeal against the decision in the following cases: (I) if the amount of claim or See also:counter-claim in the proceeding exceeds £20; or (2) in all equity matters or cases in which an See also:injunction has been given; or (3) in actions to recover See also:possession of See also:land where questions of See also:title are involved (County Courts Act 1888, § 120) .

In the case of a claim below 20 no appeal lies except by the leave of the county court . The old practice of appeal by way of See also:

special case as in appeals from justices has been abolished, and the present procedure is by notice of See also:motion (R.S.C . O . LIX. rr. ro-18) . These appeals are heard in the king's See also:bench See also:division, except in the case of appeals from judgments of a county court sitting in the exercise of See also:admiralty jurisdiction, which are heard by two or more judges sitting in the See also:probate, See also:divorce and admiralty division . The See also:chancery division has never sat to hear " appeals " from a county court exercising equity jurisdiction; but at times, by prohibition or certiorari, has, in effect, reviewed or restrained excess of jurisdiction by county courts in equity matters . The decision of the High Court on county court appeals is final unless an appeal to the court of appeal is brought by Ieave of that court or of the High Court (Judicature Act 1894, § 1, sub. See also:sect . 5; Judicature Act 1873, § 45) . (b) Other inferior courts of civil jurisdiction . Appeals from the local courts of See also:record which still survive in certain cities, towns and districts are in a somewhat anomalous position . The general rule is that, unless a statute regulates such appeal, it may be brought in the king's bench division of the High Court on notice of motion in any case in which, before the Judicature Acts, the court of king's bench could have reviewed the decision of the inferior court by See also:writ of error . The history of this question is dealt with in Darlow v .

Shuttleworth, 1902, r K.B . 721 . In the case of the See also:

mayor's court of London, under the local and general statutes regulating that court, the appeal is usually to the king's bench division, but where there is what is termed " error " on the See also:face of the proceedings of the mayor's court, the appeal lies direct to the court of appeal as successor of the court of See also:exchequer chamber . Appeals from the See also:Liverpool court of passage and from the chancery courts of the duchies of See also:Lancaster and See also:Durham See also:lie by statute direct to the court of appeal . High Court of Justice.—Until the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875 came into operation, the See also:superior courts in England were imperfectly co-ordinated both as to jurisdiction and appeals . The effect of these acts was to create a Supreme Court of Judicature divided into two See also:main branches, the High Court of Justice, which is an appellate court with respect to the inferior courts already mentioned, and to certain other special courts and persons; and the court of appeal, which is mainly concerned with appeals from the High Court of Justice . The High Court of Justice acts as an appellate court or court of consultation with reference to courts of summary jurisdiction or quarter sessions and to county courts and other inferior courts of civil jurisdiction in the cases already indicated . The three divisions of the court are somewhat differently placed with reference to appeals . In the chancery division (made up, in 1908, of six single judge courts) no appeals are heard except from subordinate officials (masters) of the court, or an occasional interference by certiorari or prohibition with a county court . In the probate, divorce and admiralty division, besides the supervision which may be exercised by a single judge over the subordinate See also:officers of the court (registrars), divisional courts (of two judges) hear appeals from decisions of the county court in admiralty causes, and appeals from justices in cases between See also:husband and wife under the Summary Jurisdiction (Married See also:Women) Act 1895, as amended by the Licensing Act 1902 . In the first of these cases the appeal is on law only as in the case of other county court appeals; in the second, the procedure is by rehearing, or reconsideration of the facts as minuted in the court appealed from, and of the law there applied to these facts . The bulk of the appellate See also:work of the High Court is conducted in the king's bench division—which, as successor of the old court of king's bench in the duties of custos morum of the realm, still retains supervisory power over all inferior courts in all cases in which that supervision has not been transferred to the other divisions of the High Court or to the court of appeal, or to the court of criminal appeal .

The king's bench division exercises appellate jurisdiction in the following cases . With respect to decisions of justices of the peace sitting at quarter sessions, or as a court of summary jurisdiction, except in the case above stated, the subject matter of appeal is for the most See also:

part of a criminal or quasi-criminal See also:character, the civil jurisdiction of justices being comparatively limited . The appeal in such cases is as to matters of law only, the justices' decision on facts not being subject to review . In the case of the courts above named, the appeal is brought by writ of certiorari, where the jurisdiction of quarter sessions to give the judgment challenged is denied in toto, or in some cases by writ of habeas corpus, where the appellant is in custody under an order of the court appealed from (Judicature Act 1894, § 2) . The best example of this is the right of a fugitive criminal committed for See also:extradition .to See also:challenge the legality of the decision of the committing magistrate by writ of habeas corpus . See also:Save in cases of want of jurisdiction or refusal to exercise it, no appeal lies from quarter sessions except by consent of the court appealed from, which states the facts as ascertained by the inferior court, and invites the review of the superior court upon the questions of law raised by the facts as found . Decisions of justices sitting in the exercise of summary jurisdiction are subject to review by a special case in which the justices state the facts found by them and their decision on the points of law, and invite the review of the appellate court on these grounds . Such cases for appeal are usually stated by consent of the justices, but in the event of their refusal the appellate court may order that a case shall be stated . Decisions of justices in the exercise of summary jurisdiction may also be challenged by writ of certiorari as having been wholly outside their jurisdiction; and in such proceeding the appellate tribunal may review the evidence taken below so far as to ascertain whether the justices have by an erroneous finding of fact enabled themselves to assume a jurisdiction which upon the true facts they did not possess . Where the decision appealed from is in a criminal cause or matter the decision of the High Court is final . Where it is in a civil matter a further appeal also lies to the court of appeal by leave of the High Court or of the court of appeal (Judicature Act 1873, § 45) . Appeals in criminal cases tried on indictment, criminal See also:information or See also:coroner's See also:inquisition, stand on a different footing from other appeals .

For many years the question of criminal appeal in general had been a matter of great controversy . As See also:

early as 1844 a See also:bill had been unsuccessfully introduced for the purpose of establishing appeal in criminal cases, and from that See also:time up to 1906 nearly See also:thirty bills were brought forward with the same object, but none succeeded in passing . In 18g2 the question was referred to the council of judges and favourably reported upon by them . It may be remarked that England was practically the only civilized See also:country in which there was no appeal in criminal cases . It is true there was an appeal on questions of law arising at the trial . But the procedure was intricate and technical, being either (1) by writ of error, issued by the consent of the See also:attorney-general (expressed by his fiat), to review errors of law appearing in the record of the trial, or (2) by special case, stated by the judge presiding at the trial, with respect to a question of law raised at the trial . These appeals were heard by the king's bench division . Meanwhile there had been a considerable development of public opinion in favour of the See also:establishment of criminal appeal, a development undoubtedly hastened by the report of a See also:committee of inquiry in the case of Adolf See also:Beck (1904), showing clearly that the See also:home See also:office was not a satisfactory tribunal of final appeal . In 1906 the See also:lord See also:chancellor (Lord Loreburn) introduced another criminal appeal bill, which passed the See also:House of Lords, but was dropped in the House of See also:Commons after a first See also:reading . The next See also:year the act (Criminal Appeal Act 1907), which was ultimately carried, was introduced into the House of Commons . By this act a court is established consisting of the lord See also:chief justice and eight judges of the king's bench division, the jurisdiction of the court for crown cases reserved being transferred to the new court . The court to be duly constituted must consist of nbt less than three judges and of an uneven number of judges .

The court may sit in two or more divisions if the lord chief justice so directs . Its sittings are held in London unless special directions are given by the lord chief justice that it shall sit at some other place . The opinion of the See also:

majority of those hearing the case determines any question before the court, and judgment is pronounced by the See also:president (who is the lord chief justice or See also:senior member present), unless in questions of law, when, if it is convenient that See also:separate judgments should be pronounced by. the members of the court, they may be so pronounced . The judgment of the court of criminal appeal is final, except where the decision involves a point of law of exceptional public importance, and a certificate must be obtained from the attorney-general to that effect . The court of criminal appeal is a superior court of record . An appeal may be made either against conviction or against See also:sentence . A person convicted on indictment may appeal either on a question of law alone or of fact alone, or on a question of mixed law and fact . On a point of law a prisoner has an unqualified right of appeal, on a question of fact or of mixed law and fact there is a right of appeal only if leave be obtained from the court of criminal appeal or a certificate be granted by the judge who tried the prisoner that it is a See also:fit case for appeal . The court is given a wide discretion as to whether a conviction may be sustained or set aside . The court may allow the appeal if they think that the See also:verdict of the jury should be set aside because it is unreasonable, or because it cannot be supported having regard to the evidence, or that the judgment should be set aside on the ground of a wrong decision on any point of law, or that on any ground there was a See also:miscarriage of justice . Power is given to the court to dismiss the appeal if they consider that no substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred, even though they are of opinion that the point raised in the appeal might be decided in favour of the appellant . The sentence passed at the trial may be quashed by the appeal court and such other sentence (whether more or less severe) warranted in law by the verdict substituted .

Notice of appeal or notice of application for leave to appeal must be given within ten days of the date of conviction; where a conviction involves sentence of See also:

death or See also:corporal punishment the sentence must not be executed until after the expiration of ten days, and, if notice of appeal is given, not until after the determination of the appeal or the final dismissal of the application for leave to appeal . The act gives the court power to order any witnesses who would have been compellable witnesses at the trial to attend and be examined before the court, and to receive the evidence, if tendered, of any See also:witness who is a competent but not compellable witness . If any question arises on the appeal involving prolonged examination of documents or accounts or any scientific or local investigation, which the court thinks cannot be conveniently conducted before it, the matter may be referred to a special See also:commissioner appointed by the court, and the court may act on the report of that commissioner if it thinks fit . An appellant is given the right to be present on the hearing of his appeal, if he desires it, except where the appeal is on some ground involving a question of law alone, but rules of court may provide for his presence in such a case, or the court may give him leave . The act requires shorthand notes to be taken of the proceedings at the trial of any person, who, if convicted, would have a right to appeal under the act . Nothing in the act affects the See also:prerogative of See also:mercy, and the home secretary may, if he thinks fit, at any time refer a case to the court of criminal appeal . The Court of Appeal.—The court of appeal, constituted under the Judicature Acts, is one of the two permanent divisions of the Supreme Court of Judicature . As now constituted the court consists of ex officio members and five See also:ordinary members, styled lords justices of appeal . The ex officio members are the lord chancellor, every person who has held that office, the lord chief justice, the See also:master of the rolls, and the president of the probate, &c., division . The ordinary business of the court is carried on by the lords justices under the See also:presidency of the master of the rolls, who in 1881 ceased to be a judge of the High Court (Judicature Act 1881, § 2) . The court usually sits in two divisions of three judges, but on occasion a third court can be formed, with the assistance of the other ex officio judges, in the See also:absence of the ordinary judges from illness or public engagements, or to See also:deal with arrears of business . The See also:quorum for final appeals is three, for interlocutory appeals two judges .

The court of appeal has succeeded to the appellate authority exercised (1) in the case of equity and See also:

bankruptcy matters by the lord chancellor and the lords justices of appeal in chancery (Judicature Act 1873, § 18); (2) in the case of common law matters, by the court of exchequer chamber, as a court of error, and the superior courts of common law sitting to review the decisions of single judges of these courts sitting with or without a jury at first instance in civil actions; (3) in the case of divorce or probate causes by the full court of divorce (Judicature Act 1881, § 9); (4) in the case of admiralty causes by the king in council or the judicial committee of the privy council; (5) in the case of applications for new trials in jury actions by the king's bench division (Judicature Act 189o, § 1) . The court never had jurisdiction to hear an appeal in any criminal cause or matter, but was able to review by writ of error decisions of the king's bench division in such cases, unless the court for crown cases reserved had dealt with the question under the Crown Cases Act 1848 . This or'-cedure has beenabolished by the Criminal Appeal Act 1907 . Instances of procedure by writ of error were rare . Those best See also:worth notice are the cases of the Tichborne claimant on his conviction of See also:perjury, and the case of C . See also:Bradlaugh on the sufficiency of the indictment against him for See also:publishing the Fruits of See also:Philosophy . The appellate jurisdiction of the court as now exercised entitles the court to hear and determine (I) appeals from every judgment or See also:decree of every division of the High Court in all civil cases in which such judgment is not declared final by statute; (2) applications for a new trial in civil cases tried in the king's bench division by judge and jury which, until 189o, were dealt with by two or more judges in that division; (3) appeals in matters of civil practice and procedure from decisions of a single judge in See also:chambers, which, until 1894, were dealt with in a divisional court or by a judge in open court; (4) appeals from the chancery courts of Durham (See also:Palatine Court of Durham Act 1889) and Lancaster (act of 1890, c . 23) and the Liverpool court of passage (See also:Anderson v . See also:Dean, 1894, 2 Q.B . 222), and on error in a record of the mayor's court of London (Le See also:Blanche v . Heaton Telegram Co., 1876, 1 Ex.D . 408); and from county courts under the Agricultural Holdings Acts and Workmen's See also:Compensation Acts; (5) appeals on questions of law from decisions of the railway commissioners in England (Railway and See also:Canal See also:Traffic Act 1888) .

The court of appeal also exercises the lunacy jurisdiction of the lord chancellor, but in regard to this the jurisdiction of the court is for the most part See also:

original and not appellate . The jurisdiction of the court of appeal is excluded or limited in the following cases:—(r) judgments of the High Court—(a) where its jurisdiction is consultative only; (b) where there is an appeal to the High Court from an inferior court of civil jurisdiction; (c) where there is an appeal to the High Court from any court of person, unless in cases (b) and (c) leave be obtained of the court by which the order is made, or of the court of appeal; (2) orders of the High Court in See also:registration and See also:election cases except with the like leave; (3) orders made by consent of parties, or as to See also:costs only which by law are left to the discretion of the court; (4) certain interlocutory orders mentioned in § r of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Procedure) Act 1894, except by leave of the judge appealed from or of the court of appeal (5) orders of the admiralty division in cases of See also:prize, the appeal from which lies to His See also:Majesty in Council; (6) where the decision of any court whose jurisdiction was transferred to the High Court is declared by statute to be final; (7) matters which from their nature were not appealable to any court before the Judicature Acts, or in which the court of appeal has no means of enforcing or executing its judgment . For example, it was held in the House of Lords, in See also:Cox v . Hakes, 189o, 15 A.C . 506, that no appeal lies from the order of a judge discharging a prisoner under a writ of habeas corpus . " If," said Lord See also:Herschell, " the contention of the See also:respondent is to prevail, the statute has effected a See also:grave constitutional See also:change "; and later, " if " the High Court " has inherited the combined See also:powers of the courts whose functions were transferred to it, but 1*See also:ine of them had any jurisdiction or authority to review a See also:discharge by a competent court under a writ of habeas corpus, or to enforce the See also:arrest of one thus freed from custody . . . it seems to me to follow, that however wrong the court of appeal might think a discharge to have been, it would have been powerless to order a rearrest, or at least to enforce such an order." The procedure of the court of appeal is regulated by the rules of the Supreme Court . A distinction is See also:drawn between appeals from a final judgment or order (which, unless the parties consent to a smaller quorum, must be heard by three judges) and an appeal from an interlocutory order (which may be determined by two judges of the court of appeal) . In the case of appeals from a final or interlocutory " judgment," or from an order, including applications for a new trial, the appeal must be brought within three months from the time when the judgment or order is signed, entered or otherwise perfected, or in the case of refusal of an application from the date of refusal . The appeal is by notice of motion, which_ 2I4- except in cases of application for a new trial, need not state the grounds of appeal . Fourteen clear days' notice of the motion must be given by the appellant to the other party, the respondent . In the case of appeals from an interlocutory order, or from a final order, or from an order made in any matter which is not an action, or from an order made in chambers, the appeal must be brought within fourteen days by motion, of which four clear days' notice must be given by the appellant to all parties directly affected by the appeal .

Controversies have arisen as to the meaning of the term " interlocutory," which (in the absence of any authoritative See also:

definition) the court of appeal settles as they arise . The test most generally accepted is that a judgment or order is final if, as made, it finally disposes of the rights of the parties in a manner equally conclusive between them . The court may by special leave allow appeals of either class to be brought after the time above limited . The respondent may by proper notice bring a See also:cross appeal against any portion of the judgment or order made below with which he is dissatisfied . The court has power to order the appellant to find security for the costs of an appeal, if special circumstances, such as in-solvency or poverty or See also:foreign See also:domicile or the like, make the giving of security desirable . The court of appeal " rehears " the case . Under ordinary circumstances it does not permit a new case to be set up inconsistent with the case as presented below; and it is content with the judges' notes, or a transcript of the evidence given below, and with a See also:note or transcript of the judgment appealed from, but has power on special grounds to receive fresh evidence either viva voce or on See also:affidavit . The court may call in for its assistance assessors who are experts on the matters of fact or See also:science involved in the appeal, and usually does so in cases arising out of collisions at See also:sea . The court of appeal may make any order which it See also:deems just as to the costs of the whole or any part of an appeal, except possibly in the case of certain appeals in matters on the crown See also:side of the High Court, as to which some doubt still exists . In practice the costs follow the event, unless the court in a particular case makes an order to the contrary . A decision of the court of appeal is final in appeals from the High Court in bankruptcy, unless leave be given to appeal to the House of Lords (§ 104, Bankruptcy Act 1883), and in divorce appeals, except where the decision either is upon the See also:grant or refusal of a decree for See also:dissolution or nullity of See also:marriage, or for a See also:declaration of See also:legitimacy, or is upon any question of law on which the court gives leave to appeal (Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1881, § 9) ; but no further appeal to the House of Lords lies, even with leave of the court of appeal, on appeals from the High Court sitting as a court of appeal from county courts in bankruptcy . With these exceptions there is now a right of appeal from every order of the court of appeal to the House of Lords .

The House of Lords.—The House of Lords has for centuries been the court of last resort, and is still the final court of appeal from the chief courts in the See also:

United See also:Kingdom . The origin of the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords was undoubtedly of that partly feudal and partly popular character already alluded to, which made the suitor seek from the high court of parliament the justice denied elsewhere in the baronial courts or by the king's judges . The lords exercised the mixed See also:function of jurymen and judges, and, as in judgments on See also:impeachment, might be influenced by private or party considerations, debating and dividing on the question before the House . A revolution was silently accomplished, however, by which the function of reviewing the decisions of the courts See also:fell entirely to the lawyers raised to the See also:peerage, while the unprofessional lords only attended to give the See also:sanction of a quorum to the proceedings, and the House has always had the right to invoke the assistance of the judges of the superior courts to advise on the questions of law raised by an appeal . The letters and See also:memoirs, so See also:late as See also:Queen See also:Anne's reign, show that party or personal See also:influence and per-suasion were employed to procure votes on appeals, as they have been in later times on railway or other local bills . The lastinstance probably in which a strong division of opinion was manifested among the unprofessional lords was the celebrated See also:Douglas cause in 1769, when the House was addressed by the See also:dukes of See also:Newcastle and See also:Bedford, but was led by the authoritative opinion of Lord See also:Mansfield on the effect of the evidence—an opinion which was treated rather as that of a See also:political See also:partisan than of a judge . The case of See also:Daniel O'Connell and others, brought up on writ of error from the queen's bench in See also:Ireland in 1844, may be said to have finally established the precedent that the judgments of the House of Lords were to be given solely by the law lords . On that occasion there wa