3rd Appellate District History
Established by constitutional amendment in 1904, the Third District Court of Appeal is one of six State of California intermediate appellate districts, the Third District being comprised of 23 counties generally located in the northeastern region of the State: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter,
Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba.
Courts of appeal review final judgments of superior courts for prejudicial errors of law, with most appellate dispositions being by written opinion. The Third District files more than 1350 appellate opinions each year. Courts of appeal also have original jurisdiction of extraordinary writ petitions such as habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition and certiorari, which may be disposed of by summary order or by written opinion. The Third District disposes of about 800 writ petitions each year.
Cases are decided by randomly-selected three-justice panels. There are eleven justices in the Third District. Justices are appointed by the Governor, confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments and must be retained by the public at the next general election and at the end of each 12 year term.
The Governor made the following appointments for the Third Appellate District: Norton Parker Chipman, former Supreme Court Commissioner, Presiding Justice; Abraham Jay Buckles, elevated from the Superior Court of Solano County, Associate Justice; Charles Emmett McLaughlin, elevated from the Superior Court of Plumas County, Associate Justice. Under the provisions of the Constitutional amendment, the original appointments expired on the first Monday in January, 1907. The November 1906 general election resulted in the following composition of the young appellate court: Norton Parker Chipman, elected to a 12-year term; Elijah Carson Hart, elected to an 8-year term; and Albert Glenn Burnett, elected to a four-year term.
Central California Appellate Program
The Central California Appellate Program is a non-profit corporation created at the request of the Courts of Appeal of the Third and Fifth Appellate Districts. Under a contract with the Courts, CCAP administrates the appointment process and provide assistance to, and supervision of, attorneys handling appointed cases. CCAP is responsible
for notifying the appellant or the respondent when the People appeal of the right to counsel, classifying all attorneys and cases, and selecting and recommending to the Courts the appointment of the attorney in each case. This program is modeled on similar ones in other appellate districts.
2407 J Street, Suite 301
Sacramento, CA 95816-4806
(916) 441-3792
