Appeal from / to

[jiho]

Hi all,
I was reading Chesterton's essay Why I Am a Catholic? and didn't understand the meaning of «appeal» in the following sentence:

«Just as Protestants appealed from the priests to the Bible, and did not realize that the Bible also could be questioned, so republicans appealed from the kings to the people. and did not realize that the people also could be defied»

At first I thought, on the basis of the second part of the sentence, that the meaning was that republicans made use of the people against the kings...
but it all seemed a little confusing to me, so:
Any help?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Tdol]

'Appeal' here, IMO, carries the idea of going to a higher authority, so they placed the Bible above the priest and the republicans did the same with the people.

 

[jiho]

'Appeal' here, IMO, carries the idea of going to a higher authority, so they placed the Bible above the priest and the republicans did the same with the people.

Thanks Tdol. It took me a couple of minutes to find the same logical/linguistic relation in my first languaje but i think i succeeded, of course, thanks to your help.

Rgds

 

[Tdol]

It struck me as similar to appealing to a higher court. ;-)