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Federal Courts-Appeals-Federal Rule 54(B) And The Final Judgment Rule, W. Stirling Maxwell S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Judicial Code provides that "the circuit courts of appeal shall have appellate jurisdiction to review by appeal final decisions . . . in the district courts, in all cases save where a direct review may be had to the Supreme Court . . . . " But what is a final ( that is, appealable) decision? The final judgment rule, originated by the English common law courts and embodied in the Federal Judiciary Act of 1789, was stated by Justice Brandeis in Collins v. Miller to require "that the judgment to be appealable should be final not only as …