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Decisions
from the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal
Appellate
authority in California comes from intermediate appellate
courts, known as Courts of Appeal, or the California Supreme
Court. The Courts of Appeal are divided into six geographical
districts, and most districts have several divisions. However,
a published decision by a Court of Appeal in any district
is binding on every trial court in every district, unless
there are conflicting decisions by Courts of Appeal, in which
case every trial court may follow any Court of Appeals' decision.
The court
of last resort is the California Supreme Court, which reviews
intermediate decisions on a discretionary basis. Once the
Supreme Court grants review of a decision by a Court of Appeal,
the Court of Appeal decision is not published in the official
reports, and is not citeable as binding authority. The Supreme
Court may affirm a Court of Appeals decision, reverse it,
or order that it not be published in the official reports.
In the latter instance (when a decision is "depublished")
neither the Court of Appeal decision nor its "depublication"
have any binding effect on anyone but the parties.
This
link is to FindLaw's California cases section, an excellent
free source for searching for California appellate decisions
from 1934. It does require one-time registration.
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