Appellate court

United States

Main articles: United States Supreme Court and United States courts of
appeals
In the United States, both state and federal appellate courts are usually
restricted to examining whether the lower court made the correct legal
determinations, rather than hearing direct evidence and determining what
the facts of the case were.[5] Furthermore, U.S. appellate courts are usually
restricted to hearing appeals based on matters that were originally
brought up before the trial court. Hence, such an appellate court will not
consider an appellant's argument if it is based on a theory that is raised
for the first time in the appeal.[citation needed]
In most U.S. states, and in U.S. federal courts, parties before the court are
allowed one appeal as of right. This means that a party who is unsatisfied
with the outcome of a trial may bring an appeal to contest that outcome.
However, appeals may be costly, and the appellate court must find an
error on the part of the court below that justifies upsetting the verdict.
Therefore, only a small proportion of trial court decisions result in appeals.
Some appellate courts, particularly supreme courts, have the power of
discretionary review, meaning that they can decide whether they will hear
an appeal brought in a particular case.

Institutional titles
Many U.S. jurisdictions title their appellate court a court of appeal or court
of appeals.[6] Historically, others have titled their appellate court a court of
errors (or court of errors and appeals), on the premise that it was intended
to correct errors made by lower courts. Examples of such courts include
the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals (which existed from 1844 to
1947), the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors (which has been renamed
the Connecticut Supreme Court), the Kentucky Court of Errors (renamed
the Kentucky Supreme Court), and the Mississippi High Court of Errors and
Appeals (since renamed the Supreme Court of Mississippi). In some
jurisdictions, courts able to hear appeals are known as an appellate
division.
The phrase "court of appeals" most often refers to intermediate appellate
courts. However, the New York system is different: the "New York Court of
Appeals" is the highest appellate court; and the phrase "New York
Supreme Court" applies to the trial court of general jurisdiction.
Depending on the system, certain courts may serve as both trial courts
and appellate courts, hearing appeals of decisions made by courts with

more limited jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions have specialized appellate

courts, such as the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which only hears
appeals raised in criminal cases, and the United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit, which has general jurisdiction but derives most of
its caseload from patent cases, on one hand, and appeals from the Court
of Federal Claims on the other.