APPEAL, in Law, (from the French verb neut. ap pellet)) signifies the removal of a cause or suit from an inferior to a superior judge or tribunal.
Of this nature were the ancient appeals to the court of Rome, in ecclesiastical matters, introduced into Eng land along with the canon law, during the reign of King Stephen, which, though previously held to be illegal, were afterwards expressly prohibited, upon the refor mation, by the statutes 24 Hen. VIII. c. 12., and 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19. and 21.; whereby the party appeal ing from any of the king's courts to the court of Rome was made liable to the pains of lzrtemunire. And this offence is made treason by 13 Eliz. c. 2.
In ecclesiastical suits, appeals lie from the arch deacon's court to that of the bishop ; from the consis tory court of every diocesan bishop to the archbishop of each province, or his official, in the court of arches; and from this court there lies an appeal to the king in chancery, as supreme head of the church of England.
The jurisdiction of this last great court of appeal, in all ecclesiastical causes, is exercised by a court of delegates, (judiccs delegati) appointed by the king's commission under his great seal. Should the king himself be a par ty in any of these suits, the appeal, of course, does not lie to him in chancery, but, by the statute 24 Hen. VIII. c. 12,, to all the bishops of the realm, assembled in the upper house of convocation. And although the sen tence of the delegates be declared, by the statutes 24 and 25 Hen. VIII., to be definitive ; yet, in extraordi nary cases, when it is apprehended they have been led into a material error, a commission of review may be granted by the king, for the purpose of revising their judgment. This, however, cannot be demanded by the subject as a matter of right, but only as a matter of favour, which, therefore, is frequently refused.
In civil cases, appeals lie from all the ordinary courts of justice in England, and also from the equity courts of chancery, to parliament. Appeals from the courts of justice, against judgments at common law, are effected by what are called writs of error ; those from chancery by petition to the house of peers. The jurisdiction of parliament, in the case of chancery suits, is said (Corn. Journ. 13th Mar. 1704) to have been introduced in 18 Jac. I. ; and certainly the first petition which appears in the records of parliament was preferred in that year, (Lords' Journ. 23d Mar. 1620), and the first that was heard and determined was presented a short time after, (Ibid. 3d, 11th, 12th Dec. 1621.) It was afterwards warmly controverted by the house of commons, in the reign of Charles II., (Com. Journ. 19th Nov. 1675, &c.). But this dispute is long since at rest, it being perfectly obvious to the reason of all mankind, that when the courts of equity became principal tribunals for deciding causes of property, a reversion of their decrees, by way of appeal, became equally necessary as a writ of error from the judgment of a court of law.
Appeals from a court of equity, and writs of error from a court of law, differ from each other in these re spects : 1. The former may be brought upon interlocu tory matters; the latter upon definitive judgments only. 2. On writs of error, the house of lords pronounces the judgment ; on appeals, it gives direction to the court below to rectify its own decree. See Blackstone's Commentaries. (:-.)