Essay On Appellant Jurisdiction

Original and appellant jurisdiction are both major factors in court cases. There are several key differences between the two however. Original jurisdiction is held by the court that hears a case first, usually a district court. Appellant jurisdiction is held in the circuit courts and is so called because a case can be appealed to the circuit courts to judge if the defendant’s due process right was violated or not. As mentioned previously, district courts hold original jurisdiction, but they only hold original jurisdiction. Circuit courts, similar to district courts, hold only a single type of jurisdiction, that being appellant. The Supreme Court is unique in both of these aspects as it has both original and appellant jurisdiction, depending on the case. Each type of court has its own unique characteristics. Consisting of 94 courts, district courts are the only courts which have a jury, there is only one, single judge in each case, it is the only level where witness testimony is heard, and is the only level where guilt or innocence is determined. Appeals courts are split up in 13 different circuits and hear appeals from district court cases in their respective circuits only. Appeals courts do not determine guilt or innocence, but rather they determine if a person’s due process rights were violated in a district court case, and only these cases are addressed, which is decided on by a panel of, usually, 3 judges. The Supreme Court, as previously mentioned, has both original and appellant jurisdiction, which gives them the duties of both district and circuit courts combined, the key difference between the Supreme Court and lower levels is that the Supreme …show more content…
Original includes an actual trial, while appellant does not, but appellant can throw out the decision in an original jurisdiction case if due process was