Who is the appellant in a case?

In a legal context, the appellant is the party who initiates an appeal after a decision has been made in a lower court. This party believes that there were errors in the trial's proceedings or in the legal conclusions that warrant a review and possible reversal of the decision. The appellant seeks to have a higher court evaluate the legal issues from the trial to determine if the ruling was proper or if a mistake was made that justifies re-examining the case.

Understanding who the appellant is helps to clarify the structure of the appeals process, where one party seeks a remedy after feeling aggrieved by the trial court's judgment. The opposition in this scenario is referred to as the appellee, who is the party defending the lower court's decision. This distinction is crucial in the judicial process, as it defines the roles of each party in appellate proceedings.