Judgment of the Court
J.:
This was a motion to quash an appeal upon the ground that this court has no jurisdiction. The original action was instituted in the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec against ten defendants, three of whom demurred to the declaration. The Superior Court sustained the demurrers. The Plaintiff (the appellant in this court) then appealed to the Court of Queen's Bench, which affirmed the first judgment. From this judgment u. of the Court of Queen's Bench, the present appeal is taken.
The objection to the appeal is that the judgment appealed against is not a final judgment within the meaning of sec. of The Supreme Court Amendment Act of 1879. In support of this contention it is argued that no appeal lies unless there has been a final disposition of the action by the court of first instance, for which sec. 8 of the act first quoted is relied on. That section is in these words, " An appeal shall lie from final judgments only, in actions, suits, causes, matters and other judicial proceedings originally instituted in the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec." It must be remarked, that this section does not say that there shall be no appeal unless there has been a final judgment of the Superior Court. The argument of the Counsel for the respondent proceeded on that assumption however. There can be no appeal directly from the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec, for see. 5 of the act of 1879 expressly provides that no appeal shall lie to this Court except from the highest Court of last resort having jurisdiction in the Province. This, as applied to the Province of Quebec, means, of course, the Court of Queen's Bench on its appellate side. Then, the appeal is not from the judgment of the Superior Court, but from that of the Court of Queen's Bench; and what we have to determine on this motion is, whether the judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench was a final judgment. The interpretation clause (see. 9 already referred to) shews plainly that it was, for it enacts that the words " final judgment " shall mean any judgment, rule, order or decision whereby the action, suit, cause, matter, or other judicial proceeding, is finally determined and put an end to. Then thejudgment of the Court of Queen's Bench