by drewcoul 2 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
This may have been answered before, but I would like to know if the appeal basically re-tries the case or if the WT has to argue that the original trial wasn't conducted properly.
In other words, is an appeal in a civil trial like this basically starting from scratch, or is it a trial concerning alleged errors in the first trial.
(I'm on heavy duty medication and having a little trouble articulating my question.)
Hello drewcoul
That's a good question.
You may find the following Wikipedia article interesting...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appellate_court
It has this to say...
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. 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.
Cedars
Also, the appellate court has the option of remanding the case back to the lower court to resolve any issues it finds, depending on the nature of those issues. It's not just a matter of overturning the case versus letting the judgment stand.
