Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. (context legal English) A court having jurisdiction to hear appeals and review a lower court's decisions.
WordNet
n. a court whose jurisdiction is to review decisions of lower courts or agencies [syn: appeals court, court of appeals]
Wikipedia
An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court, court of appeals ( American English), appeal court ( British English), court of second instance or second instance court, 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. Appellate courts nationwide can operate by varying rules.
The authority of appellate courts to review decisions of lower courts varies widely from one jurisdiction to another. In some places, the appellate court has limited powers of review. Generally speaking, an appellate court's judgment provides the final directive of the appeals courts 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.
Usage examples of "appellate court".
Inasmuch as a novel point in Constitutional Law is involved in this matter, if an appeal is made, the Court will, under the Declaratory Relief Act of 1984, on its own motion send the matter directly to Federal Appellate Court with recommendation that it be referred at once to the Supreme Court.
Then an appellate court ruled that the tournament violates the deed, as written by the Matheson family when it donated the unspoiled property half a century ago.
A new trial was thereupon granted by the Appellate Court, and the convict, on the application of the prosecuting attorney, was discharged and quickly made himself scarce.
It used to be that you couldn't get on an elevator at the hotel without stepping on a Supreme Court justice, an appellate court judge, or a U.
As an appellate court judge he had never had to look a defendant in the eye.
In a calmer atmosphere, an appellate court not under public pressure agreed to review Tocca's conviction.
Then, after two years, disaster: In a calmer atmosphere, an appellate court not under public pressure agreed to review Tocca's conviction.
Still, Mallett noted, it did mark the first time in the history of the trials that the appellate court had found even the slightest error.
I have refrained completely from making any judicial appointments on the basis of political support or other factors, and have chosen, in every instance, Superior Court judges, quite often State judges, Appellate Court judges, on the basis of merit analysis by a highly competent, open, qualified group of distinguished Georgians.