Neither did it create a right to appeal and only a few selected cases were heard every year.

A case that was reserved would then be heard at Westminster Hall at least five judges of the superior courts of common law (from 1875 High Court judges) including at least one among the Lord Chief Justice, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, or Chief Baron of the Exchequer.

The court could only hear appeals on a point of law; it could quash a conviction, but not order a retrial or alter a sentence.

The Irish Court for Crown [or Criminal] Cases Reserved sat in the Four Courts in Dublin and included at least one of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer.

[4] This court was abolished by the Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922 and its powers in Northern Ireland given to the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland, with the 1848 powers passed to a separate Court of Criminal Appeal in 1930.