The recitals to the Appeal Law of 1961 do not refer back to the report of the Privy Council Committee but it will be seen that it is a part of the background essential for the understanding of how the two Courts of Appeal came about and what the mischief was that they were designed to meet. Another relevant consideration was to ensure that only appeals in matters of real importance reached the Privy Council, since otherwise the Privy Council could be inundated with an excessive number of appeals in relatively trivial matters.

The history of the legislation, and in particular the report of the Committee of the Privy Council, indicates an intention to provide a Court of Appeal for the hearing of criminal appeals in the case of trials on indictment, and that there should be a right of appeal in civil matters to the new Court co-extensive with the pre-existing rights of appeal to the Cour des Jugements et Records. The new Court was now to be independent of the Court of first instance. The means by which this was to be achieved was by the setting up of "a court of Appeal in the Bailiwick of Guernsey with civil and criminal jurisdiction in accordance with the provisions of this Law". (Art.1(1)), which Court could be distinguished by the addition of the words "Criminal Division" and "Civil Division" (Art.1(2)). These provisions were contained in Part I of the Law, the heading of which was "Constitution of the Court of Appeal". The heading of Part II is "Appeals in Civil Matters" and of Part III is "Appeals in Criminal Matters".

The first Article in Part II is Article 13, the terms of which are set out earlier in this judgment. By Art.13(1) there was vested in the Court of Appeal the