The doctrine of exhaustion of remedies prevents a

litigant - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...

from seeking a remedy in a new

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

until all claims or remedies have been exhausted (pursued as fully as possible) in the original one. The doctrine was originally created by

case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...

based on the principles of

comity In law, comity is "a practice among different political entities (as countries, states, or courts of different jurisdictions)" involving the " mutual recognition of legislative, executive, and judicial acts." Etymology Comity derives from the La ...

. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, exhaustion of remedies is applied extensively in

administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of Forms of government, government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are gener ...

. Many cases are handled first by independent agencies of the United States government which have primary responsibility for cases involving the

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

s or

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

s which the agency administers. A person's specific rights and duties depend on the federal statute involved, but here is an outline of how the doctrine works in practice. "Exhaustion of administrative remedies" requires a person to first go to the agency which administers the statute; this process usually involves filing a petition, then going to a hearing, and finally using the agency's internal appeal process. Once the agency's own procedures are finished, or "exhausted", then the aggrieved person can file a complaint in a federal court. But the doctrine of exhaustion of remedies prevents parties from seeking

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

in the

s first. The same process is required under the laws of many, if not all, states. Exhaustion of remedies frequently affects cases of

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

. Federal law, for example, prevents a petitioner from seeking federal relief where the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

claims have not yet been exhausted. Generally, the exhaustion requirement permits state courts a "...meaningful opportunity to consider the allegations of legal error." The issue of exhaustion of remedies in a

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

case was before the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryland ...

in ''

Harvey v. Horan ''Harvey v. Horan'', 278 F. 3d 370 (4th Cir. 2002) is a federal court case dealing with felons' rights of access to DNA testing. The Eastern Virginia District Court originally found that felons were entitled access to DNA testing on potentially ...

''.

References

# (b)(1)(A) #{{note, vasquez '' Vasquez v. Hillery'', 474 U.S. 254 (1986). Civil procedure Administrative law Legal doctrines and principles