Reference no: EM131858838

One of the few aspects of the American judicial process about which consensus exists is that every loser in a trail court should have the right to appeal to a higher court. Yet, the appeals process is widely misunderstood. In the United States, an appeal is not a retrial of the case, nor is it ordinarily a reexamination of factual issues decided by a trail court. U.S. Appellate courts hear no new testimony and consider no new evidence. An appeal is not a "second bite at the apple." Rather, the appellate court focuses on how decisions were made during the trail, based strictly on the trail record. The appellate court's primary function is to determine if the trail court made legal errors and then to correct those errors if they were made. Appeals are also confined to issues properly raised in the trail court- in other words, attorneys must have objected to questionable issues during a trail if they hope to appeal the case later on the basis of their objection. This is called the contemporaneous objection rule and. Please define and discuss this rule.