Court Of Appeal

THE COURT OF APPEAL

The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) hears and determines appeals from the Crown Court. The Court of Appeal will normally deal with appeals against conviction and appeals against sentence.

With appeals against conviction, the test for the Court is whether the conviction is unsafe and the appellate Court will not be concerned with the conviction based on facts. Therefore there must be a legal basis with the Judge applying the law wrong, misdirecting the jury as to the law or there being, in a particular case, fresh evidence.

With appeals against sentence, the test which the appellate Court will apply is whether a sentence was either manifestly excessive or wrong in principle in all the circumstances of the case.

CRIMINAL CASES REVIEW COMMISSION

This was a body established after an enquiry took place about various well publicized miscarriages of justice cases. The Criminal Cases Review Commission can refer a case back to the Court of Appeal for re-consideration and can look at facts as well as law. In their own right, they can order any investigation and conduct their own investigations.

SUPREME COURT

The appellate duty of the Supreme Court will be to determine appeals form the Court of Appeal and the test will be whether the Court of Appeal got the law wrong.