California Appellate Resources
California reviews trial-court decisions through a single statewide system with several layers: the appellate divisions of the 58 superior courts, six Courts of Appeal districts, and the Supreme Court of California. Cases litigated in California's four federal district courts are reviewed instead by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
This section maps that system. It explains which court reviews which kind of case, how a case is routed from the county of trial into the correct district and division, and where the governing rules and official resources are published. County-level filing, record, and transcript mechanics differ from one superior court to the next and should be confirmed with the court in question.
California Superior Courts
58 county courts · notice of appeal · record
Superior Court Appellate Divisions
Limited civil · misdemeanor · infraction
The reviewing court depends on the type of case and the county of trial. Unlimited civil and felony appeals proceed to the Court of Appeal for one of six appellate districts; limited civil, misdemeanor, and infraction appeals proceed to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court in the county where the case was heard.
A notice of appeal is filed in the superior court that entered the judgment or order, on the Judicial Council form for the type of case, under statewide rules — while the mechanics of filing, including electronic filing, vary by county.
Statewide rules govern the clerk's transcript, appendix, and reporter's transcript; several districts add local requirements for designating and formatting the record.
Whether a verbatim record of a hearing exists depends on how the proceeding was captured, and court-reporter availability now differs sharply from county to county.
Six districts, nineteen divisions, and nine court locations, each with its own local rules, forms, and practices layered on the California Rules of Court.
Every superior court has an appellate division that hears limited civil, misdemeanor, and infraction appeals under a separate set of statewide rules.
The Judicial Council forms library, Title 8 of the California Rules of Court, the Supreme Court's procedures, and the state's public law libraries.
Appeals from the Northern, Eastern, Central, and Southern Districts of California proceed to the Ninth Circuit under the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure and the Circuit Rules.
Review by the Supreme Court is discretionary in most matters and is sought by petition for review after the Court of Appeal decides; the court also exercises original writ jurisdiction and hears automatic appeals in death-penalty cases. The court publishes its own electronic-filing rules, practices, and calendars.
Court rules, forms, filing systems, and court practices can change. Current official sources should be consulted for a particular filing or proceeding.
Using this website or submitting a conflict check does not create an attorney-client relationship and does not extend, suspend, stay, or otherwise affect any legal, trial-court, appellate, or other deadline or proceeding.
