1.12 The Appeal

Most states have a statutory scheme that allows for a party who believes a mistake of law occurred at trial to seek review of the case by a higher court.  This is known as an appeal a request for a high court to review a case for errors of law .  Errors of law may occur if prejudicial evidence was presented at a trial when it should have been excluded, evidence submitted at a trial was obtained through an illegal search and seizure, or a jury was not properly instructed by a judge, for example. An appeal is not a chance for the parties to re-try the case before a higher court. Indeed, the appellate court will not generally take any new evidence during the appeal, does not question the findings of fact made by a judge or jury, and confines its analysis to whether or not a legal error occurred. If the court finds no legal error, it will affirm to ratify a trial court’s judgment after finding no legal error the trial court judgment. If it does find legal error, it may reverse to change a trial court’s decision after finding legal error the ruling.  The appellate court may also order the case returned to the trial court to be fixed. This is known as a remand to return a case to a trial court to be fixed after finding legal errors , and can include an order for a new trial. The appellate courts have broad discretion in making these decisions.