Courts of Appeal

Established by a constitutional amendment in 1904, the Courts of Appeal are California's intermediate courts of review. California has six appellate districts (three of which have multiple divisions) and a total of 105 justices.

District headquarters are:

• First Appellate District, San Francisco;
• Second Appellate District, Los Angeles;
• Third Appellate District, Sacramento;
• Fourth Appellate District, San Diego;
• Fifth Appellate District, Fresno; and
• Sixth Appellate District, San Jose.

The Legislature has constitutional authority to create new appellate districts and divisions.

Membership, Qualifications: Each district (or division, in the case of the First, Second and Fourth Appellate Districts) has an administrative presiding justice and six or more associate justices. Appellate justices are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The same rules governing the selection of Supreme Court justices apply to those serving on the Courts of Appeal.

Jurisdiction: Courts of Appeal have appellate jurisdiction when superior courts have original jurisdiction and in certain other cases prescribed by statute. Like the Supreme Court, they have original jurisdiction in habeas corpus, mandamus, certiorari, and prohibition proceedings. Annually, there are more than 20,000 filings in the Courts of Appeal. The Courts of Appeal also receive appeals (technically, writ proceedings) from decisions of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, and the Public Employment Relations Board.

Cases are decided by three-judge panels. Decisions of the panels, known as opinions, are published in the California Appellate Reports if those opinions meet certain criteria for publication. In general, an opinion is published if it establishes a new rule of law, involves a legal issue of continuing public interest, criticizes existing law, or makes a significant contribution to legal literature. During fiscal year 1999-2000, approximately 6 percent of Court of Appeal opinions were certified as meeting the criteria for publication.

Map of Court of Appeal Appellate Districts (PDF, 105 KB)

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