An Extraordinary Appeal is a special relief litigation procedure established in several Civil Law Systems, with an aim to correct judicial errors,

wrongful convictions A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...

, and unifying the interpretation of statutes and regulations. As a general rule, it is designed for the benefit of the

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...

. Typically it can only be filed under circumstances where the final court decision in question is unfavorable to the defendant, and the defendant might be eligible for

exoneration Exoneration occurs when the conviction for a crime is reversed, either through demonstration of innocence, a flaw in the conviction, or otherwise. Attempts to exonerate convicts are particularly controversial in death penalty cases, especially wh ...

or sentence reduction due to such

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

Explanation

Normally, no matter how obvious an error is in a

verdict In law, a verdict is the formal trier of fact, finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In Engl ...

judgement Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle s ...

, it cannot be corrected unless either party

appeals In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

. Therefore, if the verdict in question is from a

supreme court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, there would be absolutely no relief due to the lack of a

superior court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

. In order to deal with the possibility of the supreme court making a mistake, extraordinary appeal was introduced as a remedy to correct any finalized court decisions. Although there are no limits regarding how many extraordinary appeals can be filed per case, it does not imply that defendants get infinite chances of appeal. To reflect this, extraordinary appeals are subject to strict conditions, such as only allowed to be filed by the

Prosecutor General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

of a judicial system, the appeal itself does not halt the

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular acti ...

, and the applicant is only allowed to dispute errors in

legal procedures Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

i.e. any extraordinary appeal shall be based upon the facts recognized by the original court and the supreme court shall only examine whether the correct law is properly applied to the recognized facts, but not the facts themselves.

History

Extraordinary Appeal originates from the "Cassation in the Interest of the Public" clause in the

French Constitution of 1791 The French Constitution of 1791 (french: Constitution française du 3 septembre 1791) was the first written constitution in France, created after the collapse of the absolute monarchy of the . One of the basic precepts of the French Revolution ...

. The clause was later established with a wider scope of application in the French Code of

Criminal Procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or ...

of 1808 and 1959. Inspired by France, an "extraordinary appeal" clause was included in the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Code of Criminal Procedure of 1880.

Countries

Japan

Extraordinary Appeal in Japan is established in part 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

South Korea

Extraordinary Appeal in South Korea is established in chapter 2, part 4 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Taiwan

Extraordinary Appeal in Taiwan is established in part 6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which was mostly inspired by the Japanese Code of Criminal Procedure. The application for an extraordinary appeal is an exclusive authority of the Prosecutor General of the

Supreme Prosecutors Office The Supreme Prosecutors Office () is the highest prosecution authority in the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan. Organizational structure * Statistics Office * Accounting Office * Civil Service Ethics Office * Personnel Office * Inform ...

. Thus, if any defendant or subordinate prosecutor considers a final court decision to be illegal, they must contact the Prosecutor General for approval. The motion for an extraordinary appeal itself does not halt any punishment sentenced by the original ruling. A legal extraordinary appeal must fit the following conditions:Article 441 - 448
Code of Criminal Procedure
Laws and Regulations Database of the Republic of China (Taiwan), 15 January 2020. # The court decision in question must be final, # The court decision in question is in contravention of laws, and # Must be filed by the Prosecutor General of the

, to the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. If the extraordinary appeal is found to be unreasonable: * The appeal is rejected, and the original court decision is not affected. If the extraordinary appeal is found to be reasonable: * If the original court decision is unfavorable to the defendant, and: ** The violation of laws is within evidence acquisition and interpretation: reverse and remand the court decision in question. However, the receiving lower court must not issue a higher sentence than the old one in the reversed judgement, if still deemed guilty. ** The violation of law is purely legal procedure error: Reverse the original decision and resentence the defendant. * If the original court decision is favorable to the defendant, the Supreme Court should declare the court decision in question illegal (but not reversed), thus has no effect on the defendant. The Extraordinary Appeal procedure in Taiwan is, indeed as its name, an extraordinary means of relief, but not the last resort for criminal procedure; a case can still be appealed to the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

if related laws or the ruling itself is considered in violation of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

References

{{reflist Appellate review Judiciaries Lawsuits Legal procedure