Catalogue description Records of the Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal was constituted under the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 as a permanent division of the Supreme Court with power to hear appeals from judgments and orders of the High Court. It took over the jurisdiction and powers of the Lord Chancellor and of the Court of Appeal in Chancery and of the same court as a Court of Appeal in Bankruptcy. It also took over the jurisdiction and powers of the Court of Appeal in Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster, the Court of the Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and the Court of Exchequer Chamber.

To it was also transferred the jurisdiction of her majesty in council or the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council upon appeal from any judgment or order of the High Court of Admiralty, except in prize causes, or from any order in lunacy made by the Lord Chancellor or other person having jurisdiction in lunacy. The 1873 act provided that the function of the House of Lords as the final court of appeal should be abolished, but a change in government in 1874 meant that this was not carried through.

The role of the House of Lords as the supreme judicial authority was later confirmed by the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876, which provided for the appointment of judges as life peers called lords of appeal in ordinary. Consequently, under certain conditions, it is still possible to appeal to the House of Lords against a decision of the Court of Appeal.

For over ninety years the Court of Appeal was exclusively a court of civil appeal. The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 ended the practice whereby a writ of error could be taken to the House of Lords in a civil action although such a procedure remained possible in criminal causes where the limited system of review was left unchanged. The Court for Consideration of Crown Cases Reserved, in which a point of law arising from a criminal trial might be further considered, continued to function, its judges being drawn from the High Court.

The work of the Court of Appeal was considerably extended by the County Courts Act 1934 which provided for appeals from most decisions of County Courts to be heard by the court instead of Divisional Courts of the High Court as formerly. The Court of Appeal also hears appeals from certain administrative tribunals such as the Lands Tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and, under the Patents Act l949, the Patents Appeal Tribunal, later incorporated in the Patents Court. It also hears appeals from decisions of the Restrictive Practices Court and, until its abolition in 1974, the National Industrial Relations Court.

The Court of Appeal consists of lord justices of appeal and a number of ex officio members. Of the ex officio members only the master of the rolls sits habitually. Originally, the master of the rolls was also a judge of the High Court but in 1881, he became a judge of appeal only, since when he has sat permanently in the Court of Appeal as its senior judge. Normally, three judges constitute a court of the Court of Appeal thereby enabling several courts to sit at the same time. For limited purposes one judge of the court may act during the vacation or for giving directions pending an appeal.

Interlocutory appeals, that is orders made upon some application before the trial of the action - for further particulars of the claim, disclosure of documents and the like - may be heard by two judges of appeal. On the civil side the office work of the court comes under the control of the chief Chancery master; the criminal work is undertaken by a Criminal Appeal Office, as a department of the Central Office under the direction of the master of the Crown Office as registrar.

The limited nature of criminal appeal procedure and the existence of a strong body of critical opinion, together with the public outcry following the Adolph Beck case in 1904, resulted in the introduction of a fundamental measure of reform in the Criminal Appeal Act 1907. Under this act a person convicted on indictment of a criminal offence was given a right of appeal to a newly-created Court of Criminal Appeal consisting of at least three judges of the High Court.

The new court's jurisdiction was much wider than that enjoyed previously by the Court for the Consideration of Crown Cases Reserved as an appeal was unrestricted on a point of law and, provided certain conditions were satisfied, appeals could also be heard on the facts or as to the sentence, where this was within the discretion of the judge. It was also provided that if the attorney general certified that the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal involved a point of law of exceptional public importance a further appeal could be made to the House of Lords.

This latter practice was changed by the Administration of Justice Act 1960 which allowed such an appeal to be heard with the leave of the House of Lords or the Court of Criminal Appeal, subject to the certificate of that court that it involved a point of law of general public importance and that it appeared to the court or to the House of Lords that it was one which ought to be considered by that House.

The prerogative of mercy was not affected by the 1907 act but it was provided that in considering any petition in reference to the conviction of a person on indictment or to the sentence (other than sentence of death), the home secretary could refer the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal as in the case of an appeal by a person convicted. With a view to the determination of the petition the home secretary could also refer a point arising on the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal for its opinion.

The Criminal Appeal Act 1907 abolished the ancient writ of error which, until then, subject to the crown's agreement to issue one, could still be employed in a criminal case, though its use in civil actions had been ended by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873. The power and practice existing in the High Court in respect of motions for new trials in criminal cases was also abolished and the jurisdiction exercisable by its judges to determine questions of law in crown cases reserved under the Crown Cases Act 1848 was transferred to the new court.

Under the Criminal Appeal Act 1966 the Court of Criminal Appeal was abolished and its jurisdiction transferred to the Court of Appeal, which now sits in a civil division and a criminal division. From 1907 until 1966 the registrar of the court was also master of the Crown Office. The administrative work of the court was undertaken through a Criminal Appeal Office, which, although initially separate, became a department of the Central Office of the Supreme Court of Judicature in 1922.