Appeal

In Criminal Practice. A formal accusation made by one private person against another of having committed some heinous crime.

4 Bla. Com. 312.

Anciently, appeals lay for treason as well as felonies; but appeals for treason were abolished 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.; Co. Litt. 2S7 b; 2 Bish Cr. Law 1001, note, par.

4.

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 imprisonment for a year, a fine, and damages to the appellee. The appellee might claim wager of battel. This claim was last made in the year 1818 in England; 1 B. & Aid. 405.

And see 2 W. Bla. 713; 5 Burr. 2643, 2793; 4 Sharsw.

Bla. Com. 312-318, and notes. In the 12th and 13th centuries and for some time thereafter, the Crown relied as much upon the Appeal of the private accuser as upon the presentment of a jury. The indictment came to take its place and at the end of the 13th century the action of trespass was an efficient substitute for the appeal, and it gradually decayed as a mode of criminal prosecution. It lived long in the law because it came to "be forgotten. Appeals of treason brought in Parliament were abolished in 1400. Other appeals were gradually abolished. It was considered that certain appeals alleging felony were good in Coke's day; Co. Litt. 127; 2 Hawk. P. C. 157. The appeal of murder had the longest history and was only abolished by 59 Geo. ber of a legislative body who questions the correctness of a decision of the presiding officer, procures a vote of the body upon the decision. In the House of Representatives 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?" Rob. R. of O. 14, 66. If the appeal relates to an alleged breach of decorum, or transgression of the rules of order, the question is taken without debate. If it relates to the admissibility or relevancy of a proposition, debate is permitted, except when a motion for the previous question is pending. As to Appeal, in practice, as one of the methods of appellate jurisdiction, see Appeal and Error.