Letters Of Ask

English Law and Ecclesiastical Law: Letters of Ask in the Past

An instrument by which a judge of an inferior court waives or remits his own jurisdiction in favor of a court of appeal immediately superior to it.

Developments

Letters of ask, in general, lie only where an appeal would lie and lie only to the next immediate court of appeal, waiving merely the primary jurisdiction to the proper appellate court, except letters of ask from the most inferior ecclesiastical court, which may be direct to the court of arches, although one or two courts of appeal may, by this, be ousted of their jurisdiction as courts of appeal. 2 Addams, R. 406. The effect of letters of ask is to give jurisdiction to the appellate court in the first instance. Id. See a form of letters of ask in 2 Chit. Pr. 498, note. [1][rtbs name=”history-of-english-law”]

Resources

Notes and References

1. Partialy, this information about letters of ask is based on the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, 1848 edition. There is a list of terms of the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, including letters of ask.

See Also