In Merrill v. Sherburne. 1 N.H. 199 (1818), Dorothy Merrill, acting as administratrix of Benjamin Merrill, successfully petitioned the legislature to order a new trial after the superior court, sitting as an appellate court, reversed a probate decision in favor of Benjamin Merrill. Id. at 199. In response to the legislature's decision to order a new trial, the parties reappeared in court and the defendant filed a motion to quash the act of the legislature. Id. The Merrill court noted that the legislature's grant of a new trial worked to "materially alter the effect of the final judgment of the court." Id. at 205. The Supreme Court then held that such action constituted an unconstitutional exercise of designated judicial powers by the legislature. Id. at 217.