[[File:California Courts of Appeal district map.svg|thumb|right|300px|Map of the districts of the California Courts of Appeal.
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| First District|| Second District|| Third District
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| Fourth District|| Fifth District|| Sixth District
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The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate court system of the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts. The California Courts of Appeal review appeals from the Superior Courts of California, and any further appeal is to the Supreme Court of California.
The California Courts of Appeal form the largest state-level intermediate appellate court system in the United States, with 106 justices.
Jurisdiction and responsibility
thumb|The California Appellate Reports, the court's official reporter
The decisions of the California Courts of Appeal are binding on the Superior Courts of California, and both the Courts of Appeal and the Superior Courts are bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court of California. Notably, all published California appellate decisions are binding on all trial courts. This is distinct from the practice in the federal courts and in other state court systems in which trial courts are bound only by the appellate decisions from the particular circuit in which it sits, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States or the state supreme court. In contrast, "there is no horizontal stare decisis in the California Court of Appeal"; Court of Appeal decisions are not binding between divisions or even between panels of the same division.
Thus, all superior courts (and hence all litigants) are bound by the decision of a Court of Appeal if it is the only published California precedent that articulates a point of law relevant to a particular set of facts, even if the superior court would have decided differently if writing on a fresh slate. the appellate decision must summarize the facts and law of the case and review possible issues independently before concluding that the appeal is without merit). Such procedure is not mandated for civil cases, but for certain types of civil cases where a liberty interest is implicated, the Courts of Appeal may, but are not required to, follow a similar procedure. Most Court of Appeal opinions are not published and have no precedential value; the opinions that are published are included in the official reporter, California Appellate Reports.
In addition, West Publishing traditionally included Court of Appeal opinions in its unofficial reporter, the Pacific Reporter. In 1959, West began publishing both Supreme Court and Court of Appeal opinions in West's California Reporter, and no longer included Court of Appeal opinions in the Pacific Reporter.
Due to their huge caseloads and volume of output, the Courts of Appeal in turn see the largest number of decisions appealed to the state supreme court and the Supreme Court of the United States. A few famous U.S. Supreme Court cases, such as Burnham v. Superior Court of California, came to the high court on writ of certiorari to one of the Courts of Appeal after the state supreme court had denied review. Many Court of Appeal opinions have become nationally prominent in their own right, such as the 1959 opinion that carved out the first judge-made exception to the at-will employment doctrine, the 1980 opinion that authorized a cause of action for wrongful life, and the 1984 opinion that created the right to Cumis counsel.
History
The California Constitution originally made the Supreme Court the only appellate court for the whole state. As the state's population skyrocketed during the 19th century, the Supreme Court was expanded from three to seven justices, and then the Court began hearing the majority of appeals in three-justice panels. The Court became so overloaded that it frequently issued summary dispositions in minor cases, meaning that it was merely saying "affirmed" or "reversed" without saying why. In 1885, the Legislature authorized the Supreme Court to appoint three commissioners to help with its work, and then authorized two more commissioners in 1889. Despite implementing all these measures, the Supreme Court was no longer able to keep up with the state's rapidly growing appellate caseload by the end of the 19th century. This explains why the First and Second Districts were traditionally expanded by adding more divisions, and then much of the Second District's territory was broken off to form the Fourth and Fifth Districts. Relying on the words "or more", the Legislature expanded the existing divisions of the First and Second Districts from three to four justices each, but chose to expand the other appellate districts by adding more justices one by one, rather than more divisions. In courts of appeal with divisions, the Chief Justice of California may designate the presiding justice of one division as the APJ, while in courts of appeal without divisions, the presiding justice is also the APJ. The First, Second, and Third Districts have always shared courthouses with the Supreme Court, while the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Districts at their founding all initially leased space in existing office buildings. He ran for and was elected governor on a "tough on crime" platform in an era when the state was struggling with an extremely high crime rate. To fulfill that promise, he appointed almost 1,000 California judges during his time in office, including 55 justices of the Courts of Appeal (out of a total of 88 seats at the time).