What Is An Appellate Court?
An appellate court is one level in a multi-level court system, each level of which has some specific purposes or “specialties.” The name “appellate” comes from the same root word as “appeal,” which accurately describes what the appellate court is designed to do.
When a lower-level court comes to a conclusion or presents a decision, one of the parties in the case may decide to appeal to a higher court. For example, a case may be heard in a trial court or a district-level court that hears testimony and looks at evidence. A decision at this level can go to the appellate court. Decisions which move up the chain of the court system would go to a supreme court after the appellate level.
Basically, the appellate court exists to review the trial-court decisions. In the U.S. and some other countries, this court should try to determine if the lower court made the right decision, using the correct legal steps. Seldom if ever do appeals courts hear original evidence or work with the original details of the case. This is sometimes characterized as having the authority to review procedures used by the lower courts.
If one of the participants in a case is not satisfied with the result of the trial, that participant might file a formal appeal, asking for the case to be reviewed at the appellate level. If the appeals court finds that the lower court made a mistake or used incorrect legal procedure, for example, the original verdict might be overturned. Few of the original decisions are appealed, according to most statistics, with extra expense being one reason many parties don’t use the appeal process.
In the United States and some other countries with a similar court structure, the Supreme Court is the last step in the appeals process. The U.S. Supreme Court can choose which cases it will review. This is discretionary power in the appeals process. A significant number of death penalties are appealed. Attorneys in these cases may seek a new decision of innocence or may try to get the higher court to overturn the death penalty decision (in favor of life imprisonment, for example).
According to details on various legal systems around the world, some appeals courts review written testimony and other documents from a case. Attorneys may appear before the appeals court to present information and provide explanations for written testimony and documents. Some appellate courts may hear new evidence or even hear the testimony of witnesses in the legal systems of some nations.
While the original trial court, or lowest level court, might hand down a decision that sets some sort of legal precedent. It’s more likely that an appellate court will do this as a result of the review process. Supreme courts at the state or national level can also hand down a detailed opinion on a case and the legal procedures used that might set some precedent for future cases.
Some appellate courts are referred to as “errors” courts because they often deal with specific legal errors and misapplications of written law.
Category: History, Government & Society, Law & Legal Issues