Massachusetts Appeals Court

The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. It sits in the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, the building that also houses the Supreme Judicial Court. The court hears most appeals from the seven departments of the Massachusetts Trial Court, namely the Superior, District, Probate and Family, Juvenile, Land, Housing and Boston Municipal Court departments, and also appeals from certain administrative agencies such as the Department of Industrial Accidents and the Appellate Tax Board. Some appeals bypass it: a first degree murder conviction goes directly to the Supreme Judicial Court, which may also take a case on direct appellate review, and a party may seek further appellate review from that court after an Appeals Court decision. Twenty-five justices sit on it, one chief justice and twenty-four associate justices, usually in rotating panels of three, and a single justice session handles interlocutory matters.