APPELLATE PRACTICE — Concurrent Findings of Fact — Interference by Supreme Court — Perversity or Error of Law

The principle governs the appellate intervention of the Supreme Court in factual findings. Where the trial court and the Court of Appeal have arrived at the same findings of fact, such findings are accorded great weight and finality. The Supreme Court will not disturb them merely because it might have taken a different view. Interference is warranted only in exceptional circumstances: where the findings are perverse (i.e., against the weight of evidence), illegal, or based on a wrong application of the law. The trial court’s unique advantage of seeing and hearing witnesses is respected. The principle ensures judicial restraint, prevents re-litigation of facts, and upholds the finality of concurrent findings. The appellant bears the heavy burden of proving that the findings fall within these exceptions.