Court of appeal (France)

In France, a cour d’appel (court of appeals) of the ordre judiciaire (judiciary) is a juridiction de droit commun du second degré, an appellate court of general jurisdiction. It reviews the judgments of a tribunal judiciaire. When one of the parties is not satisfied with the trial court’s judgment, the party can file an appeal. While decisions of a court of first instance are termed "jugements" in French, a court of appeals hands down an arrêt (decision on appeal), which may either affirm or reverse the judgment of the court below. An arrêt (judgment) of the court of appeals may be further appealed en cassation. If the appeal is admissible at the cour de cassation, that court does not re-judge the facts of the matter a third time, but may investigate and verify whether the rules of law were properly applied by the lower courts.

French territories currently contain 36 courts of appeals, six of which are overseas, and a tribunal supérieur d'appel on Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

In France itself, each court governs several départements or similar territories, generally two to four. The courts are often established in the same cities as the former Parlements, the court jurisdictions of the Ancien Régime.