single judges of these courts sitting
with or without a jury at first instance in civil actions; (3) in the
case of divorce or probate causes by the full court of divorce
(Judicature Act 1881, S 9); (4) in the case of admiralty causes by the
king in council or the judicial committee of the privy council; (5) in
the case of applications for new trials in jury actions by the king's
bench division (Judicature Act 1890, S 1).

The court never had jurisdiction to hear an appeal in any criminal cause
or matter, but was able to review by writ of error decisions of the
king's bench division in such cases, unless the court for crown cases
reserved had dealt with the question under the Crown Cases Act 1848.
This procedure has been abolished by the Criminal Appeal Act 1907.
Instances of procedure by writ of error were rare. Those best worth
notice are the cases of the Tichborne claimant on his conviction of
perjury, and the case of C. Bradlaugh on the sufficiency of the
indictment against him for publishing the _Fruits of Philosophy_.

The appellate jurisdiction of the court as now exercised entitles the
court to hear and determine (1) appeals from every judgment or decree of
every division of the High Court in all civil cases in which such
judgment is not declared final by statute; (2) applications for a new
trial in civil cases tried in the king's bench division by judge and
jury which, until 1890, were dealt with by two or more judges in that
division; (3) appeals in matters of civil practice and procedure from
decisions of a single judge in chambers, which, until 1894, were dealt
with in a divisional court or by a judge in open court; (4) appeals from
the chancery courts of Durham (Palatine Court of Durham Act 1889) and
Lancaster (act of 1890, c. 23) and the Liverpool court of passage
(_Anderson v. Dean_, 1894, 2 Q.B. 222), and on error in a record of the
mayor's court of London (_Le Blanche_ v. _Heaton Telegram Co._, 1876, 1
Ex.D. 408); and from county courts under the Agricultural Holdings Acts
and Workmen's Compensation Acts; (5) appeals on questions of law from
decisions of the railway commissioners in England (Railway and Canal
Traffic Act 1888).

The court of appeal also exercises the lunacy jurisdiction of the lord
chancellor, but in regard to this the jurisdiction of the court is for
the most part original and not appellate.

The jurisdiction of the court of appeal is excluded or limited in the
following cases:--(1