The
Michigan Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level
appellate courtAn appellate court is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In most jurisdictions, the court system is divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts...
of the state of
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. It was created by the
Michigan ConstitutionThe Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government....
of 1963, and commenced operations in 1965. Its opinions are reported both in an official publication of the State of Michigan,
Michigan Appeals Reports, as well as the unofficial, privately-published
North Western ReporterThe North Western Reporter and North Western Reporter, Second Series are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B...
, published by
Thomson WestWest publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Its headquarters is in Eagan, Minnesota and has offices in Rochester, New York and Cleveland, Ohio...
.
Cases are heard by panels of 3 judges, similarly to the U.S.
The
Michigan Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level
appellate courtAn appellate court is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In most jurisdictions, the court system is divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts...
of the state of
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. It was created by the
Michigan ConstitutionThe Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government....
of 1963, and commenced operations in 1965. Its opinions are reported both in an official publication of the State of Michigan,
Michigan Appeals Reports, as well as the unofficial, privately-published
North Western ReporterThe North Western Reporter and North Western Reporter, Second Series are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B...
, published by
Thomson WestWest publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Its headquarters is in Eagan, Minnesota and has offices in Rochester, New York and Cleveland, Ohio...
.
Cases are heard by panels of 3 judges, similarly to the U.S. Courts of Appeals. Like most appellate courts, the Court of Appeals observes the principle of
stare decisisStare decisis is the legal principle by which judges are obliged to obey the precedents established by prior decisions.In the United States, which uses a common law system in its federal courts and most of its state courts, the Ninth...
, where a court's reasoning in its past precedents binds its present decisions. When a panel of the court disagrees with a prior precedent, it must abide by the earlier decision in deciding the case at hand. When a panel expresses its disagreement with a prior precedent, there is a mechanism to convene a special 7-member "conflict panel" (similar to the
en bancEn banc, in banc, in banco or in bank is a French term used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case , rather than a panel of them. It is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered of unusual significance...
procedure in the U.S. Courts of Appeals) that would resolve the conflict between the earlier decision and the expressed desire of a panel of the court's judges to depart from that precedent.
The court has four judicial districts: District I is based in
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
, District II is based in
TroyTroy is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a suburb of Detroit. The population was 80,959 at the 2000 census, making it the 12th-largest city in Michigan by population, and the second-largest city in Oakland County after Farmington Hills...
, District III is based in
Grand RapidsGrand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River and is approximately 30 miles from Lake Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 197,800, making it the 114th largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Kent County,...
, and District IV is based in
LansingLansing is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan, and the state's sixth largest city. It is located about 80 miles west-northwest of Detroit and is mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County...
. Each District elects seven judges, but the judges on the various panels are not drawn from specific districts, and the court's precedents must be consistent statewide (i.e., each district may not maintain its own precedents as in the various circuits in the federal judicial system).
The court originally had only nine
judgeA judge, or arbiter of justice, is a lead official who presides over a court of law, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is like an umpire in a game and...
s, but this number was steadily increased by the
Michigan LegislatureThe Michigan Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is organized as a bicameral institution consisting of the Senate, the upper house, and the House of Representatives, the lower house. Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, adopted in 1963, defines the role of the...
to accommodate the court's growing caseload--to 12 in 1969, to 18 in 1974, to 24 in 1988, and to 28 in 1993.
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