Appeal

Appeal - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

A reference of any case from an inferior to a superior court. Moses established in the wilderness a series of judicatories such that appeals could be made from a lower to a higher (Ex. 18:13-26.)

Under the Roman law the most remarkable case of appeal is that of Paul from the tribunal of Festus at Caesarea to that of the emperor at Rome (Acts 25:11, 12, 21, 25). Paul availed himself of the privilege of a Roman citizen in this matter.

Appeal - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

APPE'AL, v.i. [L. apello; ad and pello, to drive or send; Gr. We do not see the sense of call in pello, but to drive or press out, is the radical sense of calling, naming. This word coincides in elements with L. balo, Eng. bawl, and peal.]

1. To refer to a superior judge or court, for the decision of a cause depending, or the revision of a cause decided in a lower court.

I appeal to Cesar. Acts 21.

2. To refer to another for the decision of a question controverted, or the counteraction of testimony or facts; as, I appeal to all mankind for the truth of what is alleged.

APPE'AL, v.t. To call or remove a cause from an inferior to a superior judge or court. This may be done after trial and judgment in the lower court; or by special statute or agreement, a party may appeal before trial, upon a fictitious issue and judgment. We say the cause was appealed before or after trial.

APPE'AL, v.t. In crimianal law, to charge with a crime; to accuse; to institute a criminal prosecution, for some hainous offense; as, to appeal a person of felony. This process was anciently given to a private person to recover the weregild, or private pecuniary satisfaction for an injury he had received by the murder of a relation, or by some personal injury.

APPE'AL, n.

1. The removal of a cause or suit from an inferior to a superior tribunal, as from a common pleas court to a superior or supreme court. Also the right of appeal.

2. An accusation; a process instituted by a private person against a man for some hainous crime by which he has been injured, as for murder, larceny, mayhem.

3. A summons to answer to a charge.

4. A call upon a person; a reference to another for proof or decision.

In an oath, a person makes an appeal to the Deity for the truth of his declaration.

5. Resort; recourse.

Every milder method is to be tried, before a nation makes an appeal to arms.

In the institution of judges by Moses (Ex 18:26), the reference: "The hard cases they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves," indicates simply a distribution of cases between two courts, but gives no trace of any provision for the rehearing of any case, by a higher court, that has already been decided by a lower. In De 17:8-13, directions are given that a lower court, under certain conditions, shall ask a higher for instructions as to procedure, and shall strictly follow the order prescribed: nevertheless, the decision itself belongs to the lower court. When its sentence was once given, there was no appeal.

In the New Testament, the provision of the Roman law, for an appeal from a lower to a higher court, is clearly recognized, although the case of Paul in Ac 25 does not strictly fall within its scope. The Roman law originally gave a citizen the right of appeal to the tribune of the people, but, with the establishment of the Empire, the emperor himself assumed this function of the tribune, and became the court of last resort. The case of Paul, however, had not been tried before Festus, nor any verdict rendered, when (Ac 25:10,11) he utters the proper legal formula: "I appeal unto Caesar" (Kaisara epikaloumai). That Roman citizens could insist upon such procedure, as right, is not perfectly certain (HJP, II, 2 279). Paul evidently acted upon the suggestion of the governor himself (Ac 25:9), who seems to have been desirous of avoiding the responsibility of a case involving questions most remote from his ordinary attention. At first sight, Paul's decision to appeal seems premature. He throws away his chance of acquittal by Festus, and acts upon the assumption that he has been already condemned. Ac 26:32 shows that the possibility of his acquittal had amounted almost to a certainty. His course is explicable only by regarding his appeal the master stroke of a great leader, who was ready to take risks. In the proposition of Festus, he grasps at what had been an object of hope long deferred.

For many years, he had been desiring and praying to get to Rome (Ac 19:21; Ro 1:11,15; 15:23,24). The Lord had just assured him (Ac 23:11), that as he had testified at Jerusalem, "so must thou bear witness also at Rome." With this promise and direction in view, he hastens toward the world's capital and the center of the world's influence, in the seemingly precipitate words, "I appeal," which a lower order of prudence would have deferred until he had first been condemned.

H. E. Jacobs