APPEAL
APPEAL, English crim. law. The accusation of a person, in a legal form, for a crime committed by him; or, it is the lawful declaration of another man's crime, before a competent judge, by one who sets his name to the declaration, and undertakes to prove it, upon the penalty which may ensue thereon. Vide Co. Litt. 123 b, 287 b; 6 Burr. R. 2643, 2793; 2 W. Bl. R. 713; 1 B. & A. 405. Appeals of murder, as well as of treason, felony, or other offences, together with wager of battle, are abolished by stat. 59 Geo. M. c. 46.
APPEAL
APPEAL, practice. The act by which a party submits to the decision of a superior court, a cause which has been tried in an inferior tribunal. 1 S. & R. 78 Bin. 219; 3 Bin. 48.
2. The 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. Its object is to review the whole case, and to secure a just judgment upon the merits.
3. An appeal differs from proceedings in error, under which the errors committed in the proceedings are examined, and if any have been committed the first judgment is reversed; because in the appeal the whole case is exainined and tried as if it had not been tried before. Vide Dane's Ab. h. t.; Serg. Const. Law Index, h. t. and article Courts of the United States.