Role of the Michigan Court of Appeals

An appeals court is one which is allowed to hear the appeal from a trial court or a lower tribunal. Many states in the U.S. call their appellate courts the "Court of Appeals." Historically, they were called the "Court of Errors" (or Court of Errors and Appeals), and this is because its role is meant to correct the errors made at lower courts. In some cases, the Michigan Appeals Court is also referred to as the Michigan Supreme Court.

Role of the Court of Appeals

The Michigan Appeals Court is an intermediate appellate court in Michigan. It is not the same as a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals, which is part of the Federal Court System. It came into being via the state constitution in 1963, and became operational in 1965.

In most state jurisdictions in the U.S, as in Michigan, the judicial system has 3 levels:

•    A trial court, where the case comes up initially and is reviewed to decide the case facts
•    A minimum of 1 appellate court in the intermediate level
•    The Supreme Court, which is also known as the court of last resort, where the judgment of an intermediate court is reviewed

Path of An Appeal in Michigan

In Michigan, the appellate court hears appeals from the Circuit Courts, the Family Division of the Circuit Courts, and Courts of Claims, which are known as 'Courts of General Jurisdiction.' These in turn receive cases from District Courts, Probate Courts and Municipal Courts, which are 'Courts of Limited Jurisdiction.'

The Michigan Court of Appeals can only examine decisions made at a lower court and make corrections, and will not hear the evidence directly to determine the case’s facts. Moreover, the appellate court can only hear the appeals on those matters that came up originally at a trial court. So, this court will never consider the argument of the appellant when it concerns evidence or theory that has never come up before.

Court Precedents

Like most appeal courts, the Michigan Appeals Court decisions are based on principle stare decisis, in which the court's way of thinking in the past influences its current decisions. This means a panel in the court cannot make a ruling that disagrees with some previous precedent. It needs to agree with the decision made before when deciding the current case. If a panel finds itself disagreeing with some previous precedent, there’s a system in the state to call a special conflict panel that is made of 7 members (this is the same as an en banc process in U.S. appellate courts) to solve the conflict.

Structure of the Court of Appeals in Michigan

The Court of Appeals has 4 Divisions, called Districts, and a total of 28 Judges. Cases are heard by panels of 3 judges, similar to the U.S. Courts of Appeals. The court initially had just 9 judges, but this figure was increased steadily by the state legislature to serve the growing number of cases on the court. It was raised to 12 in the year 1969, 18 in the year 1974, 24 in the year 1988, and 28 in the year 1993.

District I is in Detroit, District II is in Troy, District III works from Grand Rapids, and District IV’s is in Lansing. In each district there are 7 elected judges. The official publication of Michigan, Michigan Appeals Reports, reports the court opinions for public viewing.