The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 1833-1876: Its Origins, Structure and DevelopmentIn the nineteenth century, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the supreme appellate tribunal for the British Empire, held sway over the lives, liberties and property of more than a quarter of the world's inhabitants, for it had the duty of hearing and determining appeals from some 150 colonial, Indian, Admiralty, Vice Admiralty, prize, ecclesiastical and consular jurisdictions. It also had to dispose of certain patent and copyright matters