Appeals What Is the Purpose

Appeals

What is the purpose of allowing appeals in civil and criminal cases? What are the limitations in terms of numbers of appeals and the courts to which one may appeal?

Unlike courts of law, which decide if the law has been violated, appeals courts decide upon matters of judicial procedure, or questions of law rather than fact. For example, if the defendant believes the law he or she was tried by was unconstitutional, if he or she believes his or her constitutional rights were violated, or if one of the lawyers did not behave appropriately during the trial, the defendant can appeal his or her conviction. The purpose of allowing appeals is to ensure that everyone has a right to a fair trial under the law, not simply a trial, particularly in criminal cases where an individual's liberty is at stake. However, errors in law are still relevant in civil cases, for example, if a plaintiff has been unfairly or unduly penalized, due to an error in the law.

Most states as well as the federal court system have two appeals courts, an intermediate and a supreme appeals court. To make appeals, an appellant must proceed up the chain of courts, from the intermediate to the highest state court, to the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal courts do not deal with state court rulings, except for the U.S. Supreme Court, unless a federal law is at issue as well as a state law. "An appeal normally may be taken only to the next higher body in the same system. For example, an appeal of a decision in a state trial court normally may be taken only to the state intermediate appellate court. Then the party who lost on appeal may take a further appeal to the state's highest court....The state's highest court is typically the final word on matters of that state's law" ("Appeal -- where do you do it," Free Advice, 2008). The losing party may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. Typically, the U.S. Supreme Court hears only very few cases, and only when issues of constitutionality or federal law are called into question. ("What is the role of the U.S. Supreme Court," Free Advice, 2008).