The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 39 : Modes in Which the Proceedings of Lower Courts
Come Under the Supervision of Higher Courts

Paragraph 1 : Modes of Supervision

39-1. The acts and decisions of a lower court are brought under the supervision of a higher court in one or another of the following modes:
1. Review and Control;
2. Reference;
3. Appeal; and
4. Complaint.

DIGEST :

BACKGROUND AND COMPARISION :
PCA 1973, RoD, 13-1, Adopted text, M1GA, p. 152
and
Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, Proposed text, p. 55
The acts and decisions of a lower court are brought under the supervision of a higher court in one or another of the following modes:
(1) Review and Control; (2) Reference; (3) Appeal; (4) Complaint.

PCUS 1879, Rules of Discipline, XIII-1
Every decision which is made by any church court, except the highest, is subject to the review of a superior court, and may be brought before it by general review and control, reference, appeal, or complaint.

PCUS 1869 draft, Canons of Discipline, XIII-1
Every kind of decision which is formed in any Church court, except the highest, is subject to the review, and liable to the censure of
a superior court, and may be carried before it in one or other of the four following ways, to wit: general review and control, reference, appeal, or complaint.

PCUS 1867 draft, Canons of Discipline, XIII-1
Every kind of decision which is formed in any church-court, except the highest, is subject to the review, and liable to the censure of a superior court, and may be carried before it in one or other of the four following ways, to wit: general review and control, reference, appeal, or complaint.

PCUSA 1858, Revised Book of Discipline, VIII-2
Every kind of decision which is formed in any church judicatory, except the highest, is subject to the review of a superior judicatory, and may be carried before it in one or the other of the four following ways, to wit: general review and control, reference, appeals, or complaints.

COMMENTARY :
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898, pp. 237-238) on XIII-1 :
CHAPTER XIII. OF THE MODES IN WHICH A CAUSE MAY BE CARRIED FROM A LOWER TO A HIGHER COURT.
A cause is not necessarily a case of judicial procedure. The chapter begins by defining the scope and modes of review by higher courts, and the right of members of the inferior court to sit as members of the higher court. Then the body of the chapter falls into four sections, one on each of the four ways in which causes may be carried up.
§238.--I. Every decision which is made by any church court, except the highest, is subject to the review of a superior court, and may be brought before it by general review and control, reference, appeal, or complaint.
There is always some way to bring into a higher court whatever has been done or neglected by an inferior court, so that everything is done by the whole Church through the court whose action is permitted to stand as final ; for every action of a court is either the action of the Church in the General Assembly, or may be brought there for approval or disapproval.