Contract Law - Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (to be replaced in October 2009 by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom) above it.
The Court is divided into two Divisions: the Civil Division and the Criminal Division.
The Master of the Rolls presides over the Civil Division, while the Lord Chief Justice does the same in the Criminal Division.
The other permanent judges of the Court of Appeal are known as Lords Justices of Appeal.
The court hears appeals from the High Court and, in criminal matters, the Crown Court, although there are rights of appeal to it from other courts and tribunals.
Permission to appeal may be required from the court below or from the Court of Appeal itself.
Three judges, sitting as a panel, normally hear an appeal in the Court of Appeal, reaching a decision by a majority.
A single Lord Justice of Appeal may hear applications for permission to appeal.
Because the volume of cases which come to the Court of Appeal is higher than come to the House of Lords it has been said that the Master of the Rolls is the most influential judge in England.
Certainly, the most famous judge in recent legal history, Lord Denning, was Master of the Rolls for many years, and played a major part in the development of the common law.
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