LEGAL PRINCIPLE: APPELLATE PRACTICE – Duty of Appellate Court – Must Not Decide Unraised Issues
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
By ordering a retrial to determine an issue not raised, the court went on a voyage of its own; that issue was not before it; the court's duty was to consider the case in light of the appellant's complaints, not set up for the parties a case different from the one they set up; if the court must raise any other issue suo motu, it must draw parties' attention to it and give them opportunity to address it.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
"By ordering a retrial to determine which part of the house in dispute was bought by plaintiff's father the court below, with respect, went on a voyage of its own. That issue was not before it... The duty of the court below was to consider the case before it in the light of the defendant's complaints. It has no business setting up for the parties a case different to the one set up by the parties... And if it must raise any other issue suo motu, it must draw the attention of the parties to it and give them the opportunity of addressing it on such issues."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
Appellate courts are confined to issues raised by parties through grounds of appeal and arguments. Courts cannot: decide issues not raised, substitute their own case theories for parties’ cases, or order reliefs addressing unraised matters. This confinement serves: fair notice (parties prepare for raised issues), due process (parties address arguments against them), and adversarial system integrity (parties control their cases). Exception: courts may raise issues suo motu (on their own motion) when: jurisdictional questions arise, fundamental legal errors appear, or justice requires. But even then, courts must: alert parties to the issue, give opportunity to address it, and allow submissions. Without such notice and opportunity, suo motu issue-raising violates fair hearing. Here, ordering retrial on an unraised issue exceeded appellate authority—the court imposed its own case theory rather than addressing parties’ actual dispute. The principle ensures appellate review responds to parties’ cases, not courts’ preferred issues.