VPRS 19827 Supreme Court, Civil Case Appeal Books

This series comprises appeal books prepared for Civil appeals in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Included are appeals from the Supreme Court to the Full Court or the Court of Appeal. Appeal books are generally prepared by the appellant's legal practitioner and can contain transcripts of evidence from the case being appealed, exhibits, copies of orders or judgements from the Trial Judge, further particulars outlining the case and related precedent or authoritative cases. According to the Supreme Court Act 1890, after an initial hearing and decision, a case could be appealed to a Full Court, which referred to all the judges of the Supreme Court, or not less than three Judges. This excluded the trial judge, as no judge was permitted to sit on an appeal from their own judgement. Prior to then, civil appeals were exclusively directed to the Privy Council (see VPRS 476). The Constitution (Court of Appeal) Act 1994 removed the responsibilities of the "Full Court" and introduced The Court of Appeal. Under this act, The Court of Appeal had the jurisdiction to hear all appeals from the Trial division (both civil and criminal), applications for new trials and all appeals from the County Court constituted by a Judge.