al cases there is an approximately
general rule, given by S 19 of the Summary Jurisdiction Act 1879, viz.
that an appeal to quarter sessions lies from the conviction or order of
a court of summary jurisdiction directing imprisonment without the
option of a fine as a punishment for an offence, or for failing to do or
to abstain from doing any act required to be done or left undone other
than an order for the payment of money, or to find sureties or give
security or to enter into a recognizance, or a conviction made on a plea
of guilty or admission of the truth of the matter of complaint.

As a general rule, subject to particular statutory exceptions, appeals
of this kind are by way of rehearing, i.e. the actor or prosecutor must
before the appellate tribunal call his witnesses and prove his case just
as if no previous hearing had taken place before the court appealed from
(Pritchard, _Quarter Sessions Practice_, 2nd ed., 461). The only limit
is that the appellant must confine himself to the grounds of appeal
stated in the notice of appeal given by him.

_Justices in Quarter Sessions._--This tribunal has under the commission
of the peace and under statute power to refer questions of difficulty
arising before it for decision to the High Court. The old mode of
exercising this power was by sending on to assizes indictments raising
difficult questions which had been presented at quarter sessions. The
High Court has _ex officio_ power to transfer such indictments where the
nature of the case and the demands of justice call for such transfer.
The quarter sessions had also power under statute on trying an
indictment to refer to the court for crown cases reserved (Crown Cases
Act 1848), abolished by the Criminal Appeal Act 1907, questions of law
which had arisen at the trial, and in all civil cases the quarter
sessions has power of its own volition and subject to no direct
compulsion to consult the High Court on legal questions of difficulty
which have arisen. Until 1894 this jurisdiction was regarded as
consultative only. It was and is exercised by stating the facts, of
which the court of quarter sessions is the sole judge, and indicating
the questions of law arising on the facts, and the view of quarter
sessions thereon, and inviting the opinion of the High Court. Under the
Judicature Act 1894 cases stated in this way are now treated as
"appeals" in the popular sense.

_Inferior Courts of purely Civil Jurisdiction._--An appea