Finality of judgments limits review powers; the Court refused rehearing because no exceptional corrective ground was shown.

Final judgments of the Federal Court are not open to review or rehearing merely because a party is dissatisfied with the result. The Court treated finality as a controlling principle of public policy and confined any residual corrective power to narrow exceptional cases, such as slips, misprisions, manifest mistakes in drawing up the order, or similar errors where the order does not reflect what was actually decided. The applicants in substance sought a re-argument on the merits and showed no exceptional ground. The review applications were therefore not maintainable and were refused.

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Issues: Whether the Court would entertain review or rehearing of its own final judgments, and whether the applicants had shown any exceptional circumstance warranting such relief.

Analysis: The Court held that it would not sit in appeal over its own decisions and that finality of judgments is a controlling principle of public policy. Any power to review, if available at all, must be confined to narrow and exceptional cases akin to the limited corrective powers recognised in the practice of superior final courts. A rehearing on the merits, or because a party remains aggrieved, is impermissible. The recognised exceptions are confined to correction of slips, misprisions, manifest mistakes in drawing up the order, or similar cases where the judgment does not accurately reflect what was decided. The applicants sought, in substance, a re-argument of the appeals on merits and did not show any such exceptional ground.

Conclusion: The applications for review were not maintainable on the grounds urged and failed for want of any exceptional circumstance; the relief was refused.

Ratio Decidendi: A final judgment of the Court cannot be re-opened by way of review or rehearing merely because a party is dissatisfied with the result; only narrow corrective intervention is permissible to rectify patent mistakes or misprisions, not to re-examine the merits.

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