Proconsuls, for example, were often both judges of first instance and appeal, and the governors of some provinces took appellant cases from their neighbors.
He was appointed a judge in the National Courts of First Instance, then in 1891 at the Court of Appeal; in 1899, with British help, he became muftī of Egypt.
Judge Bo Vesterdorf of the European Court of First Instance appeared skeptical of the open-ended nature and practical effect of the sanctions as he questioned lawyers for Microsoft, its competitors and the European Commission.
A 38-year-old Jordanian father of two and a sitting judge in Amman's Court of First Instance, attempted to travel to Nablus like many Palestinians and Jordanians of Palestinian origin.
But that image was shattered last year when a sitting judge on the panel, called the Court of First Instance, Hubert Legal of France, broke with custom and accused some of his peers of issuing judgments favoring business over society.
The official confirmed that the panel would be led by Bo Vesterdorf, the president of the Court of First Instance, and that the case would be handled by Judge John Cooke.
At present each member nominates two judges, one to the main court and the other to the court of first instance.
Courts of first instance existed in each voivodeship and were in constant session, with judges elected by the regional sejmik assemblies.
Battle commences in Brussels' Court of First Instance on Thursday.
What Bratza did not accept was the prime minister's suggestions that the Strasbourg judges were acting as a "court of fourth instance", giving litigants yet another bite at the cherry, or that the court was acting as if it was an immigration tribunal or a small claims court.
An important but subsidiary point concerns the extent to which the appellate court will interfere with the judgment of a first instance judge in striking this balance: is it closer to the exercise of a discretion or the making of a determination of law?
