Deuteronomy 17:8-9 implies a court of appeal in hard cases; compare Judges 4:5. The king subsequently deputized persons to inquire into and decide appeals (2 Samuel 15:3). Jehoshaphat appointed Levites, priests, and some of the fathers to constitute a court of appeal (2 Chronicles 19:8). Compare Ezra 7:25. Afterward the final appeal lay to the Sanhedrim. A Roman citizen could appeal, in criminal cases, from the magistrate to the people; and in after times to the emperor, who succeeded to the power of the people. Paul's appeal (Acts 25:11) was from a trial by a provincial magistrate to one by the emperor.