How have the courts interpreted the term "appellate jurisdiction" in article VI, section 11 of the California Constitution?

Once again, we might well stop here. Having found no support for plaintiffs' proposed construction in either the language of the "appellate jurisdiction" provision or in sources contemporary with that provision's enactment, we would certainly be justified in declining to consider more remote and speculative evidence of the enactors' intent. But plaintiffs and the dissent argue that in adopting article VI, section 11, the voters may be presumed to have intended that the words "appellate jurisdiction" carry the meaning they had in earlier constitutional provisions as authoritatively construed by the courts. They rely on the rule that the "adoption of constitutional language similar to that in a former constitutional provision is presumed to incorporate authoritative judicial construction of the former language." (Sarracino v. Superior Court (1974) 13 Cal.3d 1, 8, 118 Cal.Rptr. 21, 529 P.2d 53.) To assess the strength of this argument, we will review the historical antecedents of article VI, section 11, to determine whether, in 1966, the term "appellate jurisdiction" had an "authoritative judicial construction" that embraced a right to a direct appeal.

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[893 P.2d 1165] 1849 Constitution