(delivering the judgment of the Court): Five questions were posed before us in two separate Notices of Motion -- one from the Public Prosecutor and four from Zainal bin Hj. All in the other Notice of Motion. The questions are:-

(1) Does an appeal lie to the High Court from an order made by a

Subordinate Court under section 51 of the Criminal Procedure Code?

(2) Does a person accused of an offence before a Subordinate Court have a

right to apply for and obtain an Order under section 51 of the Criminal

Procedure Code to inspect and take copies of documents in the possession of

the Respondent in connection with or in respect of such offence?

(3) If the answer to question (2) is in the affirmative, then what are the

documents which the accused is entitled to inspect and take copies of?.

(4) If the answer to question (2) is in the negative, then:--

(a) does an accused person have a right to inspect and take copies

of such documents as aforesaid?

(a) and

(b) what is the nature and extent of such right?

(5) Having ruled that section 51 of the Criminal Procedure Code is not

applicable, will it be right in law for the learned Judge to order the

prosecution to supply to the defence before trial photocopies of the

documents referred to in the charge, the contents of which form part of the

evidence for the prosecution?

Question No. (5) is the Public Prosecutors question.

For convenience section 51 of the Criminal Procedure Code is reproduced which reads as follows:--

"51. (i) Whenever any Court or police officer making a police

investigation considers that the production of any property or

document is necessary or desirable for the purposes of any

investigation, inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Code

by or before such Court or officer such Court may issue a summons

or such officer a written order to the person in whose possession

or power such property or document is believed to be requiring

him to attend and produce it or to produce it at the time and

place stated in the summons or order.

(ii) Any person required under this section merely to produce any

property or document shall be deemed to have complied with the

requisition if he causes such property or document to be produced

instead of attending personally to produce the same.

(iii) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect the provisions

of any law relating to evidence for the time being in force or to

apply to any postal article, telegram or other document in the

custody of the postal or telegraph authorities."

With regard to the first question, under section 307(i) of the Criminal Procedure Code any person dissatisfied with any judgment, sentence or order pronounced by any Magistrates Court in a criminal case to which he is a party may appeal to the High Court against any such judgment, sentence or order. The word "order" is preceded by the words "judgment" and "sentence". The order must therefore be a final order in the sense that it is final in its effect as in the case of a judgment or a sentence. The test for determining the finality of an order is to see whether the judgment or order finally disposes of the rights of the parties. See some discussion on this point in Mohamed Amin Bros v Government of India AIR 1950 FC 77 in respect of civil suits. The right of a person to ask for a document or other material in a criminal proceeding under section 51 of the Criminal Procedure Code is a right exercisable at the discretion of the Court. Thus a decision or order to issue a summons under section 51 of the Criminal Procedure Code is a final order in the sense that it is final in its effect and therefore appealable under section 307(i) of the Criminal Procedure Code. It is distinguishable from