contrary to a specified law, or usage having the force
of law; (b) that they have failed to determine some material issue of
law, or usage having the force of law; (c) of substantial error or
defect in procedure prescribed by the code or other law which might
possibly have produced error or defect in the decision of the case upon
the merits (S 584). The procedure on these appeals is regulated by c. 42
of the Civil Procedure Code. (3) Appeals from orders which do not fall
within the definition of decrees are allowed in the cases specified in S
588 of the code. The procedure with respect to these appeals is on the
same lines as that on appeals against decrees (S 590). Provision is made
(by c. 44) for allowing appeals _in forma pauperis_ after certain
preliminary inquiries. In the High Courts appeals lie from the decision
of one judge to two or more judges of the High Court, whose decision has
effect as a judgment of the full court. Appeals, in civil cases, from
the courts of India to the king in council are regulated by c. 45 of the
Civil Procedure Code. The appealable amount is for most cases Rs. 10,000
or a claim or question as to property of like amount.

Besides the provisions stated as to appeals, Indian courts have power in
certain contingencies to review their own decisions (S 623). An inferior
court may also refer cases of difficulty to the High Court on a
statement of the facts as found in the referring court and of the
opinion thereon of that Court (SS 617-620); and in cases in which no
appeal lies to the High Court, that court may call for the record of any
case in which the court below appears to have acted without jurisdiction
or failed to exercise its jurisdiction, or to have exercised its
jurisdiction illegally or with material illegality (S 622).

_Criminal Matters._--Criminal jurisdiction in India is exercised by
magistrates of the first, second and third class, by sessions courts,
and the high or chief courts of the presidencies or provinces (Criminal
Procedure Code of 1898). The higher judges in a district have the power
of revising those decisions which are not absolutely summary of the
judges of the classes below them in the same district; i.e. the sessions
judge can revise the decisions of a first-class magistrate, and the High
Court those of a sessions judge (S 435). Inferior tribunals can also
refer questions of law to the High Court (SS 432, 433); and where a
sentence of death is passed, or a sess