Horace Gray

“ By the practice in equity, as administered in the court of chancery and the house of lords in England, and in the courts of chancery and courts of errors in the states of New York and New Jersey, appeals lay from interlocutory, as well as from final, orders or decrees; and upon an appeal from an interlocutory order or decree the appellate court had the power of examining the merits of the case, and, upon deciding them in favor of the defendant, of dismissing the bill, and thus saving to both parties the needless expense of a further prosecution of the suit. ”

“ The power of the appellate court over the cause, of which it has acquired jurisdiction by the appeal from the interlocutory decree, is not affected by the authority of the court appealed from, recognized in the last clause of the section, and often exercised by other courts of chancery, to take further proceedings in the cause, unless in its discretion it orders them to be stayed pending the appeal. ”

“ But, under the judicial system of the United States, from the beginning until the passage of the act of 1891, establishing circuit courts of appeals, appeals from the circuit courts of the United States in equity or in admiralty, like writs of error at common law, would lie only after final judgment or decree ”