The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 42 : Appeals

Paragraph 7 :

42-7. If a lower court shall neglect to send up “the Record of the Case” or any part of it, to the injury of the appellant, it shall receive a proper rebuke from the higher court, and the judgment from which the appeal has been taken shall be suspended until “the Record” is produced upon which the issue can be fairly tried.

DIGEST :
The wording of this paragraph dates to PCUS 1925, though it had been numbered as 16-11 in PCA 1973. Under an amendment adopted in 1984, the paragraph was moved to its current position within the chapter and the subsequent paragraphs were accordingly renumbered [see M14GA, 12-14, Item 5-g, p. 89].

BACKGROUND AND COMPARISON :
PCA 1973, RoD, 16-11, Adopted text, p. 154
Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, RoD, 16-11, Proposed text, p. 59
PCUS 1933, RoD, 16-§283
PCUS 1925, RoD, 16-§283
If a lower court shall neglect to send up "the record of the case", or any part of it, to the injury of the appellant, it shall receive a proper rebuke from the higher court, and the judgment from which the appeal has been taken shall be suspended, until "the record" is produced upon which the issue can be fairly tried.

PCUS 1879, Rules of Discipline, XIII-3-12
If any court shall neglect to send up the record of the cause, especially if thereby an appellant who has proceeded with regularity shall be deprived of the privilege of having his appeal seasonably tried, it shall be censured according to the circumstances of the case, and the judgment appealed from shall be suspended until the record be produced, upon which the issue can be fairly tried.

PCUS 1869 draft, Canons of Discipline, XIII-3-12
and
PCUS 1867 draft
, Canons of Discipline, XIII-3-12
If any court shall neglect to send up the record of the case, especially if thereby an appellant, who has proceeded with regularity on his
part, is deprived of the privilege of having his appeal seasonably issued, such court shall be censured according to the circumstances of the case, and the sentence appealed from shall be suspended until the record is produced, upon which the issue can be fairly tried.

COMMENTARY :
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898, p. 252) on XIII-3-12 :

266.--XII. If any court shall neglect to send up the record of the cause, especially if thereby an appellant who has proceeded with regularity shall be deprived of the privilege of having his appeal seasonably tried, it shall be censured according to the circumstances of the case, and the judgment appealed from shall be suspended until the record be produced, upon which the issue can be fairly tried.
The appeal itself suspends the pronouncing of sentence, and this failure of the court would suspend the force of the judgment, so that the accused would have the right, from this failure until the record is produced, to resume the privilege of communicating and the exercise of his office. It is a matter of course that the delinquent court could not be censured without process against the court (245)
.