APPEAL (Fr. appeler, to call). In Criminal Practice. A formal accusation made by one private person against another of having committed some heinous crime. 4 Blackstone, Comm. 312.
Anciently, appeals lay for treason as well as felonies ; but appeals for treason were abo lished by statutes 5 Edw. III. c. 9, 25 Edw. III. c. 24, and 1 Hen. IV. c. 14, and for all other crimes by the statute 59 Geo. III. c. 46. An appeal lay for the heir male for the death of his ancestors; for the widow while unmarried for the death of her husband; and by the party injured, for certain crimes, as robbery, rape, mayhem, etc. Coke, Litt. 287 b.
It might be brought at any time within a year and a day, even though an indictment had been found. If the appellee was found innocent, the appellor was liable to imprison ment for a year, a fine, and damages to the appellee.
The appellee might claim wager of battle, This claim was last made in the year 1818 in England. 1 Barnew. & Ald. 405. And see 2 W. Blackst. 713; 5 Burr. 2643, 2793; 4 Sharswood, Blackst. Comm. 312-318, and notes.
2. In Practice. The removal of a cause from a court of inferior to one of superior jurisdiction, for the purpose of obtaining a review and retrial. Ellsworth, C. J., 3 Dall. 321 ; 7 Cranch, 110; 10 Pet. 205 ; 14 Mass. 414 ; 1 Serg. & R. Penn. 78 ; 1 Binn. Penn. 219; 3 id. 48.
It is a civil-law proceeding in its origin, and differs from a writ of error in this, that it subjects both the law and the facts to a review and a retrial, while a writ of error is a common-law process which removes matter of law only for re-examination. 7 Cranch, 111.
On an appeal the whole case is examined and tried, as if it had not been tried before, while on a writ of error the matters of law merely are exa, mined, and judgment reversed if any errors have been committed. Dane, Abr. Appeal. The word
is used, however, in the sense here given both in chancery and in common-law practice, 16 Md. 282; 20 How. 198 ; and in criminal as well as in civil law. 9 Ind. 569 ; 6 Fla. 679.
An appeal generally annuls the judgment of the inferior court so far that no action can be taken upon it until after the final decision of the cause. 26 Barb. N. Y. 55 ; 5 Fla. 234; 4 Iowa, 230 ; 5 Wisc. 185.
The rules of the various states regulating appeals are too numerous and various, and too much matters of mere local practice, to be given here.
They lie usually where an inferior and a superior court have concurrent jurisdiction to some extent, or where the inferior court is the court of original jurisdiction. See COURTS OP THE UNITED STATES.
In Legislation. The act by which a member of a legislative body who questions the correctness of a decision of the presiding officer, or "chair," procures a vote of the body upon the decision. In the House of Repre sentatives of the United States the question on an appeal is put to the House in this form: " Shall the decision of the chair stand as the judgment of the House?" If the appeal relates to an alleged breach of decorum, or transgression of the rules of order, the question is taken without If it relates to the admissibility or relevancy of a proposition, debate is permitted, except when a motion for the previous question is pending.