What is the Court of Appeal?
The Court of Appeal is a division of the Supreme Court and hears all appeals from the Supreme and District Courts, and many tribunals.The court does not hear entire cases or have a jury, and deals only with the subject of the appeal. It is made up of three or five judges of the Supreme Court who consider the grounds of the appeal and make a judgment.
The judges listen to the arguments by the opposing sides and decide whether an error of law was made or some crucial fact was overlooked in the original hearing.
The Court of Appeal can:
- dismiss the appeal and uphold the decision of a lower court or tribunal
- allow the appeal, set aside the decision of the lower court and make a different order in its place.
If the appeal is dismissed, nothing changes. If the appeal is allowed, the judges can order a retrial or make a different order in its place.
If the application is to appeal against a sentence, the court can increase or decrease the length of the sentence. If the court is considering increasing the sentence on appeal the court will inform you of their intention so that you may withdraw the application. If the Attorney-General appeals, the sentence may be increased.
The following legislation may assist you:
Court of Appeal Practice Direction 1 of 2005
Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (particularly Chapter 18)
Supreme Court Act 1991 and 1995
Criminal Code (Qld) (particularly Chapter 67)
Criminal Practice Rules 1999 (particularly Chapter 15)
Last updated 19 December 2007
Other languages