date

27 Feb y 1807 (5 Letter V
27 Feb y 1807

(5

Letter V

Resolut. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

4 th. That as to Resolution 13 th, inhibiting Appeals to the House of Lords from interlocutory judgments, not excepting those from the Chamber of Review, the inhibition it imparts is inconsistent with the very principle of appeal, and can not be defended on any other ground than that the supreme appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords is unnecessary in toto, as well in its application to final judgments as in its application to interlocutory ones:- for that the distinction between an interlocutory and a final judgment is not in its nature so fixed and determinate, but that the effect of a final judgment may be given to an interlocutory one.
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  • Title: [9 June 1807 B2 Letter V]
    Description: 9 June 1807

    B2

    Letter V

    V. No Appeal

    II. Irrep. Injury

    Yes, my Lord: scarce a final judgment, to which it may not happen to have as many judgments after it as before it: - such is the steadiness of that arrangement which rests on the distinction between interlocutory judgments and final ones.

    By a judgment, it may be said, by which refusal is made to suffer an act to be done at the only point of time at which it can be done the injury committed, if any, is rendered irreparable by the nature of things, and not by the arrangement here objected to on that ground. If then any such refusal be regarded as injurious, the only remedy that can be applied may be applied upon an appeal against the final judgment that comes afterwards, as upon an appeal against the interlocutory judgment by which such refusal was pronounced.

    True, my Lord: what the House of Lords could not do is the causing of that to be done for the possibility of doing which the time is lapsed and gone. But what the House could do is to take cognizance of the probable effect of such refusal in the final judgment, and pronounce accordingly. This is what might naturally be done, upon an Appeal complaining of the interlocutory judgment. But, under the Learned Reformer's plan, it appears not that it can ever happen to an interlocutory judgment of the Court of Session to be taken for the subject of complaint to the House of Lords.

    But whatever may be the force of it, this answer will not be found to have any application to the head next ensuing.
  • Title: [28 Dec r 1806 Scotch Reform To L d]
    Description: 28 Dec r 1806

    Scotch Reform To L d Grenville

    Adoplusida?[?] 1 3

    Resolut. 13

    Interloct[?] Unapplicable

    There are particular cases: and supposing the Resolution to be in these respects too extensive, its /the/ over-amplitude might be corrected by apposite exceptions.

    The /But/ proposed prohibition of Appeals against Interlocutory Judgments assumes and supposes a clear and invariable line of distinction in existence drawn between interlocutory judgments and final ones. Does /Exists then/ any such law exist my Lord? I do not mean in form, but in effect? Is is altogether clear tha neither precedent nor analogy can afford either warrant or plausible [...?] for framing /pronouncing/ judgments that shall be interlocutory in form, final in effect? Take almost any final judgment at random, is ther /can there be/ any difficulty, in framing a judgment, which shall /being/ be in all other respects the same, with the single difference of its being declared to be provisional only, reserving to another time the definitive disposal of the matter /subject matter/ in dispute till another time? This interlocutory judgment, (for under that appellation surely it could come,) this interlocutory judgment, for so long as it continues unmodified /unaltered/, produces the effect of a final one. But by whom is it to be altered? /But who is there to alter it?/ The Court below will not: and the Court above, the House of Lords, this Resolution being carried into act, can not.
  • Title: [18 May 1807 + + 4 4]
    Description: 18 May 1807

    + + 4

    4

    Letter V

    I. Plan for the Letter

    Yes, my Lord:- In the benefit of this old-established and approved remedy, sanctioned by

    the wisdom of ages

    , the lieges will already find a sufficient compensation for whatever little additional delay and expence may happen to be produced by the proposed

    Chamber of Review

    : but, to make sure, let us give them two other indemnities into the bargain.

    2. Of the load of

    appellate-jurisdiction

    business that presses at present upon the time of the House of Lords, a very large proportion is produced by

    Appeals against interlocutory judgments

    called for shortness

    Interlocutors

    . Of all these Appeals the time of the House might with perfect propriety be exonerated. I say -

    with perfect propriety

    . For it is time enough for a man to complain when he has lost his cause. But, till final judgment is pronounced the cause is not lost to any body. All these appeals therefore may be struck off. And here your Lordship sees another great relief to the

    lieges

    :- another compensation for whatsoever little additional delay and expence may be supposed to be attached to

    our Chamber of Review

    Italics still