Court of Appeal Act 2014

General jurisdiction of Court of Appeal

8. The Act of 1961 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 7:

7A. (1) The Court of Appeal shall be a superior court of record with such appellate jurisdiction as is prescribed by the Constitution.

(2) Subject to the provisions of Article 64 of the Constitution and section 78 (3) of the Act of 2014, there shall be vested in the Court of Appeal all appellate jurisdiction which was, immediately before the establishment day, vested in or capable of being exercised by the Supreme Court.

(3) Subject to section 78 (1) of the Act of 2014, there shall be vested in the Court of Appeal all jurisdiction which was, immediately before the establishment day, vested in or capable of being exercised by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

(4) Subject to section 78 (2) and (3) of the Act of 2014, there shall be vested in the Court of Appeal all jurisdiction which was, immediately before the establishment day, vested in or capable of being exercised by the Courts-Martial Appeal Court.

(5) The Court of Appeal may sit in divisions of 3 judges (including judges who are, by virtue of section 1A(3) or (6) of the Courts (Establishment and Constitution) Act 1961 , additional judges of the Court of Appeal) and the divisions may sit at the same time.

(6) Notwithstanding the generality of subsection (5), an interlocutory application relating to an appeal before the Court of Appeal or, unless the appeal itself is confined to a procedural matter, any procedural application or motion in the matter, may be heard and determined by—

(a) the President of the Court of Appeal sitting alone, or

(b) any other judge of the Court of Appeal sitting alone as may be nominated for that purpose by the President of the Court of Appeal.

(7) Where the Court of Appeal is exercising its jurisdiction in respect of a criminal matter before it, then unless the matter is one which involves a question as to the validity of any law having regard to the provisions of the Constitution, the decision of the majority of the judges of the Court hearing the case shall be the decision of the Court of Appeal and it shall be pronounced by such one of the judges of the Court as that Court shall direct and no other opinion whether assenting or dissenting shall be pronounced, nor shall the existence of any such other opinion be disclosed.

(8) The jurisdiction vested in the Court of Appeal shall include all powers, duties and authorities incidental to the jurisdiction so vested.

(9) In this section—

(a) ‘the establishment day’ has the same meaning as it has in section 2 of the Act of 2014, and

(b) a reference to an ‘interlocutory application’ includes a reference to an application which may be made under any enactment to the Court of Appeal in criminal proceedings concerning the grant of a certificate of entitlement to legal aid.”.