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An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a Legal case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. An appellate court other than a supreme court is sometimes referred to as an intermediate appellate court.
In much of the world, Judiciary are divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and considers factual evidence and testimony relevant to the case; at least one intermediate appellate court; and a supreme court (or court of last resort) which primarily reviews the decisions of the intermediate courts, often on a discretionary basis. A particular court system's supreme court is its highest appellate court. Appellate courts nationwide can operate under varying rules.
Under its standard of review, an appellate court determines the extent of the deference it will give to the lower court's decision, based on whether the appeal is one of fact or of law. In certain civil law jurisdictions, especially those following the French legal system, a first-level appellate court has the power to second-guess the trial court's finding of facts and retry the facts of the case at that level under the principle of double degré de juridiction.
In common law jurisdictions, an appellate court reviewing an issue of fact ordinarily gives deference to the trial court's findings. It is the duty of trial judges or jury to view the evidence firsthand, observe witness testimony, and resolve disputes over what facts are supported by the evidence by making findings of fact. When reviewing lower decisions on an issue of fact, courts of appeal generally look for "clear error". Transposed into civil law terminology, a second-instance proceeding in a common law court is "not a retrial of the parties' dispute but a trial of the first-instance trial"; the appellate court attempts to verify whether the trial was conducted according to correct legal principles and without procedural irregularity, not whether the judgment in the first instance was the right outcome.
An appellate court reviews issues of law de novo (that is, without deference to the lower court's interpretation) and may reverse or modify the lower court's decision if the appellate court believes the lower court misapplied the facts or the law. The application of the law to the facts (once the facts are established by factfinding in the first instance as explained above) is itself also an issue of law. If the appellate court finds a reversible error on an issue of law, it will reverse and remand with directions. If not promptly reversed by a higher court, the appellate court's ruling on that issue of law becomes final as to the parties and becomes part of the law of the case. In contrast, if the appellate court finds a reversible error on an issue of fact, it cannot immediately retry and decide the issue itself in the first instance, based on the evidence already in the record. It can only reverse and remand with instructions to the trial court for a new trial or new findings on that issue. However, such further factfinding proceedings may then be subject to further appeals as to whether they themselves were also procedurally proper and conducted in accordance with the appellate court's directions.
An appellate court may also review the lower judge's discretionary decisions, such as whether the judge properly granted a new trial or disallowed evidence. The lower court's decision is allowed to stand unless it is an "abuse of discretion". This standard tends to be even more deferential than the "clear error" standard.
Before hearing any case, the court must have jurisdiction to consider the appeal. The authority of appellate courts to review the decisions of lower courts varies widely from one jurisdiction to another. In some areas, the appellate court has limited powers of review. Generally, an appellate court's judgment provides the final directive of the appeals court as to the matter appealed, setting out with specificity the court's determination that the action appealed from should be affirmed, reversed, remanded or modified. State v. Randolph, 210 N.J. 330, 350 n.5 (2012), citing Mandel, New Jersey Appellate Practice (Gann Law Books 2012), chapter 28:2 Depending on the type of case and the decision below, appellate review primarily consists of either an entirely new hearing (a non trial de novo), a hearing where the appellate court gives deference to the factual findings of the lower court, or a hearing to review particular legal rulings made by the lower court (an appeal on the record).
The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff Court building in the Old Town in Edinburgh, or in dedicated buildings in Glasgow and Aberdeen. The High Court sometimes sits in various smaller towns in Scotland, where it uses the local Sheriff Court building. As an appeal court, the High Court sits only in Edinburgh. The High Court will hear appeals from the of Scotland where the trial was under solemn proceedings; the High Court will also hear referrals on points of law from the Sheriff Appeal Court, and from Summary offence in the sheriff courts and justice of the peace courts. Cases can be remitted to the High Court by the after conviction for sentencing, where a sheriff believes that their sentencing powers are inadequate. The High Court can impose a life sentence but the sheriff has a limit of five years sentencing; both can issue an unlimited fine.
In most U.S. states, and in U.S. federal courts, parties before the court are allowed one appeal as of right. This means that a party who is unsatisfied with the outcome of a trial may bring an appeal to contest that outcome. However, appeals may be costly, and the appellate court must find an error on the part of the court below that justifies upsetting the verdict. Therefore, only a small proportion of trial court decisions result in appeals. Some courts, particularly supreme courts, have the power of discretionary review, meaning that they can decide whether they will hear an appeal brought in a particular case.
Historically, certain jurisdictions have titled their appellate court a court of errors (or court of errors and appeals), on the premise that it was intended to correct errors made by lower courts. Examples of such courts include the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals (which existed from 1844 to 1947), the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors (which has been renamed the Connecticut Supreme Court), the Kentucky Court of Errors (renamed the Kentucky Supreme Court), and the Mississippi High Court of Errors and Appeals (since renamed the Supreme Court of Mississippi). In some jurisdictions, a court able to hear appeals is known as an appellate division.
The phrase "court of appeals" most often refers to intermediate appellate courts. However, the New York Court of Appeals is the highest appellate court in New York. The New York Supreme Court is a trial court of general jurisdiction. The Supreme Court of Maryland was known as the Court of Appeals, and the Appellate Court of Maryland was known as the Court of Special Appeals, until a 2022 constitutional amendment changed their names. Depending on the system, certain courts may serve as both trial courts and appellate courts, hearing appeals of decisions made by courts with more limited jurisdiction.
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