legal word of the day: REMAND (US), REMIT (UK)

legal word of the day: REMAND (US)/ REMIT (UK)

ENG: to send a case back to a lower court

POL: przekazać do ponownego rozpoznania

(1) When an appeals court reverses a lower court judgment, it will usually remand (US)/remit (UK) the case to the lower court for a new judgment to be issued.

(2) The role of an appellate court is to determine whether the trial court did its job properly. If so, the appellate court can affirm the judgment of the trial court. If not, the appellate court can reverse or vacate the judgment and remand to the trial court for further proceedings.

(3) The court may reverse, affirm, or amend the magistrates’ decision and may also remit the matter back to them with its opinion on the legal issues involved.

to REVERSE/ VACATE – uchylić (to say officially that a judgment no longer has effect)

a JUDGMENT – wyrok (the court’s decision)

the TRIAL COURT – sąd pierwszej instancji (the court of first instance)

to AFFIRM – utrzymać w mocy (to officially say that a judgment is valid (=acceptable and will be upheld))

to AMEND – zmienić (zaskarżony wyrok) (to change the judgment by correcting an error made in the trial court)

FURTHER PROCEEDINGS – dalsze postępowanie w sprawie (the continuation of trying a case)

MAGISTRATES’ COURT – sąd magistracki (a lower court in England and Wales, where most criminal proceedings start)

 (4) But one (…) entry seems to resolve a long-simmering debate among court geeks about why the court, when it rejects a lower court ruling, sometimes “reverses” it and other times “vacates” it. (…) This Court should reverse if it deems the judgment below to be absolutely wrong, but vacate if the judgment is less than absolutely wrong. (…) There you go. Reverse is when things are really, really wrong. Vacate is when it is somewhat wrong.