Norman Fields v. District of Columbia

The eminence of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in the judiciary is underscored both by the statute conferring our jurisdiction to reexamine its judgments1 and by our rules indicating the conditions under which we will undertake to exercise it.2 We conduct such reviews only as a “matter * * * of sound judicial discretion” for “special and important reasons.” 3 Our many refusals to grant appeals from the court’s decisions attest our recognition of the authority which normally should attach to its pronouncements on matters of purely local law.

Yet there are situations in which a…