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TheAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York is the intermediateappellate court inNew York State.[2] The state is geographically divided into four judicial departments of the Appellate Division.[3] The full title of each is, using the "Fourth Department" as an example, the "Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department".[4]
The Appellate Division primarily hears appeals from the state'ssuperior courts (Supreme Court,Surrogate's Court,Family Court,Court of Claims, thecounty courts) incivil cases, the Supreme Court incriminal cases, and, in the Second, Third, and Fourth Judicial Departments, from the county courts infelony criminal cases.[5] In addition, in civil cases it may hear appeals from the appellate terms of the Supreme Court when these courts have heard appeals from one of the lower trial courts.
New York's rules ofcivil procedure allow forinterlocutory appeals of right from nearly every order and decision of the trial court,[6] meaning that most may be appealed to the appropriate appellate department while the case is still pending in the trial court.
| First Department | Second Department |
| Third Department | Fourth Department |
The Appellate Division may makedecisions of law andfact with respect to its power to hear first appeals from state trial courts, including the Supreme Court and County Courts. These trial level courts exercisespecific jurisdiction as conferred by law.[7] In contrast, both the New York Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division, when it sits as a final appeals court with respect to appeals arising from decisions of the Appellate Terms in the First and Second Departments, generally may only decide questions of law.[citation needed] The Appellate Division may adjudicate facts subject to specific constraints in the course of initial review of agency decisions under New York's CPLR Article 78, which provides for limited court review or agency and corporate decisions.
Decisions of the Appellate Division departments are binding on the lower courts in that department, and also on lower courts in other departments unless there is contrary authority from the Appellate Division of that department.[8][9] If two different departments have made different rulings on the same issue, then the lower courts in each departmental area must follow the ruling made by their respective department. This can sometimes result in the same law being applied differently in different departments. When this occurs, the highest court in the state, the Court of Appeals, can remedy the situation by hearing the case and issuing a single ruling, which is then binding on every court in the state.[10] Every opinion, memorandum, and motion of the Appellate Division sent to theNew York State Reporter of theNew York State Law Reporting Bureau is required to be published in theAppellate Division Reports.[11][12][13] Opinions of the appellate terms are published selectively in theMiscellaneous Reports.[12][14]
In addition to hearing appeals in matters of law and equity, the Appellate Division regulates the admission of lawyers to the Bar and their conduct and discipline.[23]
At Englishcommon law, theLord Chancellor, as the king's delegate to exercise the Crown's special jurisdiction, had responsibility for the custody and protection of infants and the mentally incapacitated. Revisions to the constitution in 1847 abolished theNew York Court of Chancery and transferred this role to theNew York Supreme Court.[26]
Each case is decided by a panel of five, or in some instances four, justices of the Court. There is no procedure for the Court to siten banc.
Some basic rules governing appeals are found in Articles 55 and 57 of theNew York Civil Practice Law and Rules, but they are not detailed enough to fully provide for a comprehensive system of appellate procedure. Prior to September 2018, and unlike other states that have statewide rules of appellate procedure, there was no set of appellate procedure rules shared by all four departments beyond the rudimentary set in the CPLR. Instead, each of the four departments filled in the CPLR's gaps by promulgating its own individual set of rules governing more specific details of practice before that court. The result was considerable diversity in appellate procedure between the four departments, which extended to matters as basic as the form and formatting of appellate briefs, the deadline to perfect an appeal after filing of the notice of appeal, appellate motions, and oral argument.[33]
During the 2010s, this problem was studied at length by theNew York State Bar Association, and the NYSBA's recommendations for reform came to the attention of Chief JudgeJanet DiFiore.[33] In June 2018, the Presiding Justices of the Appellate Division promulgated statewide Practice Rules of the Appellate Division, which became effective in September 2018 and are codified outside of the CPLR in 22 N.Y.C.R.R. Part 1250.[34] The four departments retain the ability to supplement and even supersede the uniform rules by promulgating rules of their own.[35]
Decisions by the Appellate Division may be appealed to the state's highest court, theNew York Court of Appeals. In some cases, an appeal lies of right, but in most cases, permission (or "leave") to appeal must be obtained, either from the Appellate Division itself or from the Court of Appeals. In civil cases, the Appellate Division panel or Court of Appeals votes on petitions for leave to appeal; in most criminal cases, however, the petition for leave to appeal is referred to a single Justice or Judge, whose decision whether to grant or deny leave is final.
To keep caseloads under control, most Appellate Division opinions are extremely concise. Often, an Appellate Division panel will dispose of an entire case in only two paragraphs, with the second paragraph stating: "We have considered plaintiff's (or defendant's) remaining contentions and find them unavailing." In contrast, courts in most other states traditionally devote a few more paragraphs to disposing of the other "remaining contentions."
Justices of the Appellate Division are chosen by the Governor from among those elected to the State Supreme Court. A justice does not have to have been elected from one of the judicial districts within a department to be appointed to the Appellate Division for that department, although the Presiding Justice and a majority of the total number of justices are to reside within the department. They serve at least five years, or until the completion of their 14-year elected terms, or reaching the constitutional age limit of 70, beyond which the governor may choose to reappoint them for up to three two-year terms.
The State Constitution provides that the First and Second Department are each to comprise seven justices, and the Third and Fourth departments five justices. In addition to these "constitutional" justices, the presiding justice of each department may ask the Governor to designate "additional justices" where needed based on the court's workload. At present, for example, the First Department comprises 20 justices in total when there are no vacancies. The qualifications for additional Justices are the same as for other justices.
Attorneys are admitted to the New Yorkbar by one of the Appellate Division departments rather than by New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, though once admitted to any of the Appellate Division departments, such attorney is admitted to practice and appear before all non-federal courts in the state, including the Court of Appeals. Applicants must be interviewed in person by a member of the court's "Character and Fitness Committee" after passing the New York State Bar Exam (since July 2016, theUniform Bar Examination[36]) andMultistate Professional Responsibility Examination administered by theNew York State Board of Law Examiners.[37] Applicants are admitted in the department in which they reside; applicants residing outside New York are admitted through the Third Department inAlbany.
Judges are regulated by theRules Governing Judicial Conduct promulgated by theChief Administrator, theCode of Judicial Conduct adopted by the New York State Bar Association, and the relevant rules of the respective Appellate Division departments.[38] Attorneys are regulated by various state laws, theRules of Professional Conduct (based on theABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct), and rules adopted by each department of the Appellate Division.[39][40] Each department of the Appellate Division has a committee that investigates complaints of attorney misconduct and may issue reprimands or recommend censure, suspension, or disbarment to the Appellate Division.[41]
The Appellate Division was created by theNew York State Constitution of 1894 to succeed the General Term of the Supreme Court, effective January 1, 1896.[42]
State intermediate appellate courts in the United States | ||
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The states ofDelaware,Maine,Montana,New Hampshire,North Dakota,Rhode Island,South Dakota,Vermont, andWyoming do not have intermediate appellate courts. Nor do the equivalent court systems ofAmerican Samoa, theDistrict of Columbia,Guam, theNorthern Mariana Islands, or theU.S. Virgin Islands | ||