In United States appellate procedure, an appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law.

The right to file an appeal can also vary from state to state ; for example, the New Jersey Constitution vests judicial power in a Supreme Court, a Superior Court, and other courts of limited jurisdiction, with an appellate court being part of the Superior Court.

Depending on the particular legal rules that apply to each circumstance, a party to a court case who is unhappy with the result might be able to challenge that result in an appellate court on specific grounds.

The appellate court cannot refuse to listen to the appeal.

An appeal " by leave " or " permission " requires the appellant to obtain leave to appeal ; in such a situation either or both of the lower court and the appellate court may have the discretion to grant or refuse the appellant's demand to appeal the lower court's decision.

Likewise, in some jurisdictions, the state or prosecution may appeal an issue of law " by leave " from the trial court and / or the appellate court.

For example, a criminal defendant may be convicted in state court, and lose on " direct appeal " to higher state appellate courts, and if unsuccessful, mount a " collateral " action such as filing for a writ of habeas corpus in the federal courts.

In Anglo-American common law courts, appellate review of lower court decisions may also be obtained by filing a petition for review by prerogative writ in certain cases.

That is, it goes to the intermediate appellate court, followed by the highest court.

For example, the appellant might have to file the notice of appeal with the appellate court, or with the court from which the appeal is taken, or both.

Generally speaking the appellate court examines the record of evidence presented in the trial court and the law that the lower court applied and decides whether that decision was legally sound or not.

The appellate court will typically be deferential to the lower court's findings of fact ( such as whether a defendant committed a particular act ), unless clearly erroneous, and so will focus on the court's application of the law to those facts ( such as whether the act found by the court to have occurred fits a legal definition at issue ).

If the appellate court finds no defect, it " affirms " the judgment.

If the appellate court does find a legal defect in the decision " below " ( i. e., in the lower court ), it may " modify " the ruling to correct the defect, or it may nullify (" reverse " or " vacate ") the whole decision or any part of it.

" Appellate review " is the general term for the process by which courts with appellate jurisdiction take jurisdiction of matters decided by lower courts.

In most jurisdictions the normal and preferred way of seeking appellate review is by filing an appeal of the final judgment.

Generally, there is no trial in an appellate court, only consideration of the record of the evidence presented to the trial court and all the pre-trial and trial court proceedings are reviewed — unless the appeal is by way of re-hearing, new evidence will usually only be considered on appeal in " very " rare instances, for example if that material evidence was unavailable to a party for some very significant reason such as prosecutorial misconduct.

In some systems, an appellate court will only consider the written decision of the lower court, together with any written evidence that was before that court and is relevant to the appeal.

At such hearings each party is allowed a brief presentation at which the appellate judges ask questions based on their review of the record below and the submitted briefs.

An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals ( American English ) or appeal court ( British English ), is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal.

In most jurisdictions, the court system is divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts of 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.

A jurisdiction's supreme court is that jurisdiction's highest appellate court.

Hence, such an appellate court will not consider an appellant's argument if it is based on a theory that is raised for the first time in the appeal.

* the standard of review and degree of deference given by an appellate tribunal to the decision of the lower tribunal under review ( issues of law are reviewed de novo, that is, " as if new " from scratch by the appellate tribunal, while most issues of equity are reviewed for " abuse of discretion ," that is, with great deference to the tribunal below ).

The mid-tier Federal Court of Appeal is a single court that sits and hears cases in multiple cities, and thus mid-tier decisions have precedential value throughout Canada ( that is, unlike the United States, Canada is not divided into appellate circuits ).

A court of appeals is an appellate court generally.

Some jurisdictions have specialized appellate courts, such as the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which only hears appeals raised in criminal cases, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has general jurisdiction but derives most of its caseload from patent cases, on the other hand, and appeals from the Court of Federal Claims on the other.

The highest courts of New Hampshire and West Virginia simply do not have an intermediate appellate court between themselves and the trial court of general jurisdiction, while the intermediate Court of Appeals of Virginia hears appeals as a matter of right only in family and administrative cases.

The Committee hears appeals from the appellate courts of many independent Commonwealth nations and crown dependencies.

Whereas an intermediate appellate court hears general appeals from a lower court grounded on issues of law and procedure as well as errors of fact and reasoning, the Court only decides matters on points of law or procedure as applied in a case, not factual errors.

It has final appeal jurisdiction for decisions originating from any of the eight appellate administrative courts, meaning that it hears cases in which the plaintiff argues that the appellate court ignored or misinterpreted the law.

The Supreme Court of Canada the country's court of last resort has nine justices appointed by the governor general and led by the Chief Justice of Canada, and hears appeals from decisions rendered by the various appellate courts from the provinces and territories.

The Federal Court of Appeal is a Canadian appellate court that hears cases concerning federal matters arising from certain federal Acts.

* In its appellate jurisdiction, the CCJ hears appeals as the court of last resort in both civil and criminal matters from those member states which have ceased to allow appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ( JCPC ).

In the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction, the CCJ hears appeals from common law courts within the jurisdictions of parties to the Agreement Establishing the CCJ, and is the highest municipal court in the region.

In some cases, an appellate court may review a lower court decision " de novo " ( or completely ), challenging even the lower court's findings of fact.

In cases where a judge rather than a jury decided issues of fact, an appellate court will apply an " abuse of discretion " standard of review.

A court of original jurisdiction has the power to hear cases as they are first initiated by a plaintiff, while a court of appellate jurisdiction may only hear an action after the court of original jurisdiction ( or a lower appellate court ) has heard the matter.

In its appellate jurisdiction it adjudicates cases involving violations of human rights and interpretation of the constitution.

Decisions of one appellate department are not binding upon another, and in some cases the departments differ considerably on interpretations of law.

These cases usually pertain to issues which different appellate courts within its jurisdiction have decided differently, or highly controversial cases involving a completely new legal issue never seen in that state.

In other cases, the Supreme Court has only appellate jurisdiction, which may be regulated by the Congress.

It has ultimate ( but largely discretionary ) appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases.

The first type of attorney-general (" advocaat-generaal " in Dutch ) is the public prosecutor in criminal cases at appellate courts.

Many states have rules that permit certain cases such a death penalty cases and election cases directly to the state supreme court, even though most civil cases must be appealled first to an intermediate appellate court.

* In Utah, civil cases are appealed directly to the state supreme court, which then has the power to refer the case instead to an intermediate appellate court, rather than being appealled first to an intermediate appellate court and then to a state supreme court.