In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and interpreting law. Although appellate courts have existed for thousands of years, common law countries did not incorporate an affirmative right to appeal into their jurisprudence until the 19th century.
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Appeal (law) in the context of Lower court
A lower court or inferior court is a court from which an appeal may be taken, usually referring to courts other than supreme court. In relation to an appeal from one court to another, the lower court is the court whose decision is being reviewed, which may be the original trial court or some of appellate court lower in rank than the supreme court which is hearing the appeal. In other words, lower courts are 'lower' in hierarchical chain of appellate procedure than other higher appellate courts. Usually it is obligation of a lower court to follow the decision of higher appellate court, even in civil law countries where precedents have no binding power.
Some common law countries use term "lower court" or "inferior court" as antonym for "superior court", meaning such lower courts have only limited jurisdiction according to importance of case (usually decided by monetary amount of claims). For information on this kind of courts, see Small claims court and superior court.
Appeal (law) in the context of Legal dispute
Legal proceeding is an activity that seeks to invoke the power of a tribunal in order to enforce a law. Although the term may be defined more broadly or more narrowly as circumstances require, it has been noted that "[t]he term legal proceedings includes proceedings brought by or at the instigation of a public authority, and an appeal against the decision of a court or tribunal". Legal proceedings are generally characterized by an orderly process in which participants or their representatives are able to present evidence in support of their claims, and to argue in favor of particular interpretations of the law, after which a judge, jury, or other trier of fact makes a determination of the factual and legal issues.
- Activities needed to have a court deem legal process to have been provided, such as through service of process.
- Conduct of a trial, whether a lawsuit or civil trial, or a criminal trial.
- Issuance and enforcement of court orders, including those imposing foreclosure or receivership.
- Hearings, particularly administrative hearings.
- Arbitration.
In the United States, Congressional hearings are not generally considered legal proceedings, as they are generally not directed towards the imposition of a penalty against a specific individual for a specific wrong. However, impeachment proceedings are generally conducted as legal proceedings, although experts dispute the question of whether they are primarily legal proceedings, or are merely political proceedings dressed in legal formalities and language. Richard Posner, for example, has asserted that it was "the intent of the framers of the Constitution that an impeachment proceeding be primarily a legal proceeding, akin to a criminal prosecution, rather than a political one".