Procedure on appeal from special proceedings.
Section 498
SEC. 498. Procedure on appeal from special proceedings. — On appeals from special proceedings had before a Court of First Instance or a judge thereof, the Supreme Court shall determine the questions of fact from the evidence certified from the judge or court below, and shall also decide all questions of law arising upon the appeal. But, if the appeal involves such a number of items of account as to render the reexamination of the evidence by the Supreme Court inconvenient and unduly burdensome, the court may refer the accounting to a commissioner to be appointed by it, who shall be thoroughly competent to adjust complicated accounts. The commissioner shall have power to administer oaths, and to reexamine all controverted items of the account, upon the testimony already taken and certified from the judge or court below, and upon such further testimony as the Supreme Court shall for special reasons authorize. He shall be sworn to a faithful performance of his duties as commissioner and shall have power to issue subpoenas for witnesses. He shall state the items of the account as allowed or disallowed, and report to the court his findings of facts and his allowances or disallowances, and his rulings upon all questions of law, and shall return to the court all testimony taken by him. The court shall thereupon render, upon notice and hearing, such judgment as justice requires, in view of the findings of the commissioner and of the evidence. The court shall not be bound by its findings, but may review the evidence, or may recommit the report to the same or another commissioner for further findings, if justice so requires. The final judgment of the Supreme Court in such special proceedings shall be certified to the Court of First Instance immediately upon its rendition, and shall be conclusive.