of appeal by leave of the High
Court or of the court of appeal (Judicature Act 1873, S 45).

Appeals in criminal cases tried on indictment, criminal information or
coroner's inquisition, stand on a different footing from other appeals.

For many years the question of criminal appeal in general had been a
matter of great controversy. As early as 1844 a bill had been
unsuccessfully introduced for the purpose of establishing appeal in
criminal cases, and from that time up to 1906 nearly thirty bills were
brought forward with the same object, but none succeeded in passing. In
1892 the question was referred to the council of judges and favourably
reported upon by them. It may be remarked that England was practically
the only civilized country in which there was no appeal in criminal
cases. It is true there was an appeal on questions of law arising at the
trial. But the procedure was intricate and technical, being either (1)
by writ of error, issued by the consent of the attorney-general
(expressed by his _fiat_), to review errors of law appearing in the
record of the trial, or (2) by special case, stated by the judge
presiding at the trial, with respect to a question of law raised at the
trial. These appeals were heard by the king's bench division. Meanwhile
there had been a considerable development of public opinion in favour of
the establishment of criminal appeal, a development undoubtedly hastened
by the report of a committee of inquiry in the case of Adolf Beck
(1904), showing clearly that the home office was not a satisfactory
tribunal of final appeal. In 1906 the lord chancellor (Lord Loreburn)
introduced another criminal appeal bill, which passed the House of
Lords, but was dropped in the House of Commons after a first reading.
The next year the act (Criminal Appeal Act 1907), which was ultimately
carried, was introduced into the House of Commons. By this act a court
is established consisting of the lord chief justice and eight judges of
the king's bench division, the jurisdiction of the court for crown cases
reserved being transferred to the new court. The court to be duly
constituted must consist of not less than three judges and of an uneven
number of judges. The court may sit in two or more divisions if the lord
chief justice so directs. Its sittings are held in London unless special
directions are given by the lord chief justice that it shall sit at some
other place. The opinion of the majority of those hearing