An appellant is a person who files an appeal for a new decision in a court case. For example, a person may be found guilty of charges in a criminal case; he may then file an appeal in the hopes of having the verdict in the case overturned. Appeals may be filed in many types of cases besides those involving criminal acts. Regardless of the type of case, the person who files the appeal is always called the appellant.
Laws regarding who can appeal a case, procedures for filing appeals, and standards for providing appeals vary from place to place. Generally speaking, either party in a court case may file an appeal. For example, if a person loses a case and is required to pay the opposing party a sum of money, he may appeal the judgment. He would be considered the appellant, and the person who won the case would become the respondent. If, instead, the winning party of that case felt he’d been awarded too little money, he could appeal, becoming the appellant. The person who lost the original case would then be called the respondent.
Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, the type of case and the wishes of the appellant, an appeal may be filed with a different court or with the court that made the original, unsatisfactory decision. For example, an appellant may appeal to a higher court if he feels the original court made mistakes in reaching a decision. If, however, the appellant has new evidence that was unavailable for the original court’s consideration, he may file an appeal with the original court. In such a case, the original court may hear the appeal case and make a new decision based on the new evidence. An appeal filed with a higher court is called a direct appeal; one filed with the original court is called a collateral appeal.
In some cases, an appellant may have the automatic right to appeal a case. This means laws in the jurisdiction guarantee his right to do so. Sometimes, however, the court has the right to refuse to hear the appellant’s arguments concerning the original court decision. Criminal cases may be handled a bit differently in some countries. The prosecution in some places may not have the right to appeal a criminal case in which the defendant was acquitted. The purpose of this law is to avoid having a defendant stand trial more than once for the same criminal charges.