Court of Appeal of England and Wales

The Court of Appeal is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales and ranks second only to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in the English legal hierarchy, established in 1875 and currently made up of thirty-nine Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal. It divides into a Criminal Division, led by the Lady Chief Justice and hearing appeals from Crown Court jury trials, and a Civil Division, overseen by the Master of the Rolls and hearing appeals from the County Courts, the High Court of Justice, and the Family Courts. It is bound by decisions of the Supreme Court but may depart from its own past rulings in four defined circumstances, appeals to it generally require permission from the lower court or the Court of Appeal itself, and its own decisions bind every subordinate court, with further appeal possible only to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.