The Utah Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court

Appellate court

An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals or appeal court , is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal...

 for the state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. It began operations in 1987.

Jurisdiction

The court's jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...

 is complementary to that of the Utah Supreme Court

Utah Supreme Court

The Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, USA. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice, and three justices. All justices are appointed by the governor...

. The Court of Appeals hears all appeals from the Juvenile and District Courts, except those from the small claims department

Small claims court

Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and the name by which such a court is known varies by jurisdiction; it may be known as a county or magistrate's court...

 of a District Court. It also determines appeals from District Court involving domestic relations

Domestic relations

In the common law tradition, the law of domestic relations is a broad category that encompasses:* divorce;* property settlements;* alimony, spousal support, or other maintenance;* the establishment of paternity;...

 cases, including divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

, annulment

Annulment

Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...

, division of property

Division of property

Division of property, also known as equitable distribution, is a judicial division of property rights and obligations between spouses during divorce...

 (Utah is an "equitable distribution" state), child custody

Child custody

Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...

, child support

Child support

In family law and public policy, child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other relationship...

, visitation

Contact (law)

In family law, contact is one of the general terms which denotes the level of contact a parent or other significant person in a child's life can have with that child...

, adoption

Adoption

Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...

 and paternity

Paternity (law)

In law, paternity is the legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a man and a child usually based on several factors.At common law, a child born to the wife during a marriage is the husband's child under the "presumption of legitimacy", and the husband is assigned complete rights,...

, and some criminal

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

 matters (those that are not first degree felonies

Felony

A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...

 or capital cases). The Court also hears appeals from administrative proceedings

Administrative law

Administrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative agencies of government. Government agency action can include rulemaking, adjudication, or the enforcement of a specific regulatory agenda. Administrative law is considered a branch of public law...

 by state agencies

Government agency

A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...

 including the Utah Industrial Commission and the Department of Employment Security Career Service Review Board. It also hears cases transferred to it by the Supreme Court.

Procedure

The panels hear oral arguments in cases during the third and fourth week of the month. After hearing arguments

Oral argument

Oral arguments are spoken presentations to a judge or appellate court by a lawyer of the legal reasons why they should prevail. Oral argument at the appellate level accompanies written briefs, which also advance the argument of each party in the legal dispute...

, the judges confer together to discuss the issues raised in the case. One of the judges on the panel is assigned to write the opinion of the court. In addition to its oral argument panels, the court designates three judges to sit on the law and motion

Motion (legal)

In law, a motion is a procedural device to bring a limited, contested issue before a court for decision. A motion may be thought of as a request to the judge to make a decision about the case. Motions may be made at any point in administrative, criminal or civil proceedings, although that right is...

 panel. This panel determines procedural and substantive motions and hears cases on one day per month.

Judges

The court consists of seven judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, 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 supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

s who serve six-year renewable terms. A presiding judge is elected by majority vote to serve for two years. Court of Appeals sessions usually are conducted in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

, but the court travels several times per year, holding court in different geographical regions of the state. The court sits and renders judgment in rotating panels of three judges. It is prohibited by statute

Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...

 from sitting en banc

En banc

En 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 to be of greater importance...

(all seven members at once).

The seven judges on the court are:

• James Z. Davis (presiding judge)
• Carolyn B. McHugh
  Carolyn B. McHugh
  Carolyn Baldwin McHugh is the associate presiding judge of the Utah Court of Appeals.-Early life and education:In 1978, McHugh received her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Utah. She graduated from the University of Utah's College of Law in 1982 where she was an editor of the...
  
   (associate presiding judge)
• Michelle M. Chistiansen
• Gregory K. Orme
  Gregory K. Orme
  Gregory Keith Orme is one of the seven judges currently serving on the Utah Court of Appeals.-Early life and education:Gregory Orme was born December 14, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts. Orme grew up in Ogden, Utah, and later attended Robert E. Lee High School in San Antonio, Texas...
  
  
• Stephen Roth
• William A. Thorne, Jr.
• J. Frederic Voros, Jr.

External links

• Official Homepage of the Utah Court of Appeals