How do appellate courts work?
The legal system of any country plays a vital role in the stability of the country and its institutions. Laws are made not to control the population (in most cases), but to provide a framework within which people and institutions can work and interact. The laws are a set of rules and standards that are acceptable to the vast majority.
Legal systems consist of two arms. The first is the legislature that initiates, debates, forms and passes laws. The second arm is the judiciary that interprets laws, decides disputes between parties, sits in judgment over those who have violated laws and determines the appropriate punishment. Most legal systems consist of a court system where judges hear the facts and then decide the matter. Some countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, utilize a jury system in which a group of ordinary people hear the evidence and render a verdict. In these systems, the judge is responsible for the management of the court case. He or she makes decisions as to the law during the trial. The juries decide the facts.
Regardless of the system, there is always the chance of error in decisions. For this reason, the vast majority of legal systems have a system in place that allows for the party who lost the civil trial or who was convicted in a criminal trial to appeal the decision. The court to which the appeal is taken is called an appellate court.
There is no universal model for an appellate or appeals court. Different legal systems have their own systems. In the United States, matters are further complicated by the existence of two legal systems existing side by side- the federal court system and the 50 state court systems.
Generally, appellate courts do not provide or hear new trials. The lawyers for the parties present their arguments relative to the results of the trial. The appellate judge or judges hearing the case will listen to the lawyers’ arguments and study the record from the trial. The appeals court determines if there had been an error made in some aspect of the trial or its result. Appeals courts have the ability to overturn the decisions of the trial court or to return the case to the trial court for another trial.
Within many legal systems, there are levels of appeals courts depending on the type of case being appealed. However, all systems have a court of last resort, the tribunal from which there can be no other appeals. In many countries and jurisdictions, this court is known as the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, as its name suggests, has precedence over all other courts in the country. By virtue of its standing, the Supreme Court will usually only hear cases under exceptional circumstances. Matters that the highest courts might accept are generally ones in which an important legal principle is at issue. The decision in the case would set a precedent that could have serious consequences affecting large segments of the population or some significant aspect of society. Death penalty cases are frequently accepted by many Supreme Courts.
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