APPEAL (Ap-pEP). The right of appeal to supe rior tribunals has generally been considered an essential concomitant of inferior judicatories. When, from the paucity of the population or any other cause, the subjects of litigation arc few, justice is usually administered by the first author ity in the state, from whose award no appeal can lie. But when the multiplication of clauses pre cludes the continuance of this practice, and one or more inferior courts take cognizance of the less important matters, the right of appeal to the superior tribunal is allowed, with increasing re strictions, as, in the course of time, subjects of litigation multiply, and as the people become weaned from the notion that the administration of justice is the proper function of the chief civil magistrate.
(1) In Patriarchal Times. In the patriarchal times, as among the Bedouins, the patriarch or head of the tribes, that is to say, the Sheikh, ad ministered justice ; and, as there was no superior power, there could be no appeal from his de cisions. The only ease of procedure against a criminal which occurs during the patriarchal period is that in which Judah commanded the supposed adulterous Tamar to be brought forth and burnt (Gen. xxxviii :24). But here the woman was his daughter-in-law and the power which Judah exercised was that which a man possessed over the females of his own immediate family If the case had been between man and man. Judah could have given no decision, and the matter world, without doubt, have been re ferred to Jacob.
(2) In the Desert. In the desert Moses at first judged all causes himself ; and when, finding his time and strength unequal to this duty, he, at the suggestion of Jethro, established a series of judicatories in a numerically ascending scale ( Exod. xviii :t3-2U), he arranged that cases of difficulty should be referred (ruin the inferior to the superior tribunals, and in the last instance to himself. Although not distinctly stated, it ap pears from various circumstances that the clients had a right of appeal, similar to that which the courts had of reference. When the prospective distribution into towns, of the population which had hitherto remained in one compact body, made other arrangements necessary, it was directed that there should be a similar reference of difficult cases to the metropolitan court or chief magis trate for the time being (Deut. xvi:i8; xvii:8-t2). That there was a concurrent right of appeal ap pears from the use Absalom made of the delay of justice which arose from the great number of cases that came before the king, his father (2 Sam. xv
(3) Time of the Judges. The appeal lay in the time of the Judges to the judge (Judg. iv:5), and under the monarchy to the king, who appears to have deputed certain persons to inquire into the facts of the case, and record his decision thereon (2 Sam. xv :3). Jehoshaphat delegated his judicial authority to a court permanently established for the purpose (2 Chron. xix :8). These courts were re-established by Ezra (Ezra vii:25). After the institution of the Sanhcdrim the final appeal lay to them.
(4) In the New Testament. The most re markable case of appeal in the New Testament belongs to another class. It is the celebrated ap peal of St. Paul from the tribunal of the Roman procurator Fcstus to that of the emperor ; in con sequence of which lie was sent as a prisoner to Rome (Acts xxv :to, n, 25). Such an appeal having been once lodged, the governor had noth ing more to do with the case; he could not even dismiss it, although he might be satisfied that the matter was frivolous, and not worth forwarding to Rome. Accordingly, when Paul was again heard by Festus and king Agrippa (merely to obtain materials for a report to the emperor), it was admitted that the apostle might have been liberated if he had not appealed to Cesar (Acts xxvi:32). Paid might therefore stem to have taken a false step in the matter, did we not con sider the important consequences which resulted from his visa to Rome.
It may easily be seen that a right of appeal which, like this, involved a long and expensive journey. was by no means frequently resorted to. In lodging his appeal Paul exercised one of the high privileges of Roman citizenship which be nged to him by birth (Acts xxii :28 ). The right of appeal connected with that privilege originated in the Valerian, Porcian, and Sem pronian laws. by which it was enacted that if any should order flagellation or death to be inflicted upon a Roman citizen, the accursed person might appeal to the of lire people, and that meanwhile he should suffer nothing at the hands of the magistrate' until the people had judged his cruise. Put what was originally the prerogative of the people had in Paul's time be come that of the emperor. and appeal therefore was made 1r) him. I fence Pliny (Ep. x:o7) men tions that he bad sent to Rome some Christians, who were Roman citizens, and had appealed tinter COrsar 'This privilege could not be (11.:3110wed by any magistrate to any person whom the law en titled to it.