charter mentioned appeals only in personal actions, there is nothing in the 
charter specifically to justify an appeal in a real action. Whether this omission 
was deliberate or accidental, this specific reference to personal actions 
alone proved the Achilles heel of later conciliar appellate jurisdiction over 
Massachusetts Bay. 33 
appeals regulations; channel islands; royal provinces 
The assertion of appellate jurisdiction over the chartered colonies was of less 
importance quantitatively than the imposition and regulation of such jurisdiction 
in the case of the royal provinces. But before discussing the execution 
of this program it will be desirable to examine the regulations in existence for 
Jersey and Guernsey in 1679, the year of merging colonial and Channel Islands 
jurisdiction, since the existing appeal set-up for these royal dominions very 
obviously affected the content of the instructions for the American plantations 
dependent upon the crown. We have already seen that regulations of Jersey 
appeals were promulgated in 1572, 1591, and 1635, of Guernsey appeals in 
1580, 1605, 1627. Following the Restoration several changes were made in the 
regulations for Jersey. In April, 1668, it was ordered that no appeals for movables 
be allowed henceforth, unless the goods were worth sterling, or for 
immovables, unless worth sterling per annum. In case of unsuccessful 
doleances, such fines were to be imposed as the case required. 34 But these 
minimums did not prove practical, and they were altered in 1671 to 300 livres 
tournois (about for personalty and 5 livres tournois per annum for 
realty. The regulation as to unsuccessful doleances was repeated. 35 
In these various conciliar regulations for Jersey and Guernsey several salient 
features are to be noticed. First, appellate jurisdiction was limited by exclusion 
of appeals in certain categories of subject matter and by the imposition 
of appealable minimums. Secondly, definitive sentence below and the furnishing 
of security by appellant were made appellate conditions precedent. Thirdly, 
there were time limitations for taking an appeal (fourteen days), for entry 
thereof (three months), and for presentation thereof (a year and a day). 
Lastly, sanctions were made available to discourage abuse of the appellate 
privilege. 36 
#1574). This provision was agreed to by the 
Committee {ibid., #1631) and incorporated in 
the charter. 
33 See infra, p. 162 et seq. 
Si PC 2/60/287. 
35 PC 2/63/15. In 1677 further conciliar interest 
is found in the regulations governing 
appeals and doleances from Jersey, but no 
further regulation emerged (PC 2/66/34). 
86 It may be objected that certain features of 
this scheme were applicable to only one island. 
This is true by the letter of the conciliar orders, 
but as we have indicated (supra, pp. 15, 27) 
some of the regulations did not remain restricted 
in their force or had counterparts in 
local law or custom; see Poingdestre, Les Lois