What may the court hearing the appeal rely on to give judgment without oral argument, and when might it still hear testimony from a reference witness?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
For this exercise, the papers to read are the appeal petition, the statement of the grounds of appeal, and the other litigation records, because the provision names the first two and then refers to the other litigation records.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the list as open-ended: the court hearing the appeal may render judgment without any argument, relying on the appeal petition, the statement of the grounds of appeal, and any other part of the record of proceedings, and the provision attaches no further condition to that power.
Another reading treats the two paragraphs as separate powers: where the court finds it necessary, it may open a hearing on a particular matter to hear a reference witness's testimony, yet the provision does not say what makes a hearing necessary or what counts as a particular matter.
Your judgment
If a stated ground of appeal turns on a fact that appears nowhere in the record of proceedings, what could a party file to put that fact before the court?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change which papers support decision without argument, or if a decision of the court hearing the appeal explains when a hearing on a particular matter is necessary.