Appeals to the Privy Council Before American Independence: An Annotated Digital Catalogue

Abstract

Between the later seventeenth century and American independence, appeals from colonial high courts were taken to the Privy Council in England. These appeals are the precursors of today’s appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. Their legal and policy issues can be reconstructed from the outcome of the appeals, the briefs of crown law officers, related Privy Council documents, and handwritten notations on these materials. This article describes Appeals to the Privy Council Before American Independence, an annotated digital catalogue of appeals from the thirteen colonies with links and digital images providing access to this material, now compiled from a variety of repositories.

Keywords: appeals, Privy Council, colonial high courts, annotated digital catalogue, colonial legislation, Anglo-American legal history, history of the Supreme Court, judicial review