What may the Supreme Court decide on in an appeal, and when may it go beyond the grounds the appeal document contains?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
For this exercise we read the grounds for appeal document filed in the case alongside the copy of the judgment under appeal, since the provision ties the court's review to what that document contains, and we note any ground raised in the record but absent from it.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the rule as written: the Supreme Court adjudicates on the grounds contained in the grounds for appeal document, so the scope of its review is fixed by that document, and nothing outside it is decided on.
Another reading turns on the proviso, which is permissive: where the case falls within the first through third categories of grounds set out in the provision that immediately precedes this one, the court may adjudicate ex officio even on grounds the document does not contain, yet nothing in the provision requires it to do so, and no category is given for any other ground left unstated.
Your judgment
If a ground appears only in the record and not in the grounds document, what in the file could show whether it falls within the categories the proviso covers?
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 grounds listed in the provision immediately preceding this one are amended so that the proviso reaches a different set of cases, or if a court decision defines when a ground counts as contained in the grounds document.