ned
before the court, and to receive the evidence, if tendered, of any
witness who is a competent but not compellable witness. If any question
arises on the appeal involving prolonged examination of documents or
accounts or any scientific or local investigation, which the court
thinks cannot be conveniently conducted before it, the matter may be
referred to a special commissioner appointed by the court, and the court
may act on the report of that commissioner if it thinks fit. An
appellant is given the right to be present on the hearing of his appeal,
if he desires it, except where the appeal is on some ground involving a
question of law alone, but rules of court may provide for his presence
in such a case, or the court may give him leave. The act requires
shorthand notes to be taken of the proceedings at the trial of any
person, who, if convicted, would have a right to appeal under the act.
Nothing in the act affects the prerogative of mercy, and the home
secretary may, if he thinks fit, at any time refer a case to the court
of criminal appeal.

_The Court of Appeal._--The court of appeal, constituted under the
Judicature Acts, is one of the two permanent divisions of the Supreme
Court of Judicature. As now constituted the court consists of _ex
officio_ members and five ordinary members, styled lords justices of
appeal. The _ex officio_ members are the lord chancellor, every person
who has held that office, the lord chief justice, the master of the
rolls, and the president of the probate, &c., division.

The ordinary business of the court is carried on by the lords justices
under the presidency of the master of the rolls, who in 1881 ceased to
be a judge of the High Court (Judicature Act 1881, S 2). The court
usually sits in two divisions of three judges, but on occasion a third
court can be formed, with the assistance of the other _ex officio_
judges, in the absence of the ordinary judges from illness or public
engagements, or to deal with arrears of business. The quorum for final
appeals is three, for interlocutory appeals two judges.

The court of appeal has succeeded to the appellate authority exercised
(1) in the case of equity and bankruptcy matters by the lord chancellor
and the lords justices of appeal in chancery (Judicature Act 1873, S
18); (2) in the case of common law matters, by the court of exchequer
chamber, as a court of error, and the superior courts of common law
sitting to review the decisions of