2627. Appeal Procedures--1. General--a) In all cases of appeal the appellant shall within thirty (30) days give written notice of appeal and at the same time shall furnish to the officer receiving such notice (2627.2b; 3a), and to the counsel for the Church, a written statement of the grounds of the appeal, and the hearing in the appellate committee shall be limited to the grounds set forth in such statement.
b) When any appellate committee shall reverse, in whole or in part, the findings of a Trial Court or remand the case for a new hearing or trial or change the penalty imposed by the court, it shall return to the convening officer of the Trial Court a statement of the grounds of its action.
c) An appeal shall not be allowed in any case in which the respondent has failed or refused to be present in person or by counsel at the investigation and the trial. Appeals shall be heard by the proper appellate body, unless it shall appear to the said body that the appellant has forfeited the right to appeal by misconduct, such as refusal to abide by the findings of the Trial Court; or by withdrawal from the Church; or by failure to appear in person or by counsel to prosecute the appeal; or, prior to the final decision on appeal from conviction, by resorting to suit in the civil courts against the complainant or any of the parties connected with the ecclesiastical court in which the appellant was tried.14
d) The right of appeal, when once forfeited by neglect or otherwise, cannot be revived by any subsequent appellate body.
e) The right to prosecute an appeal shall not be affected by the death of the person entitled to such right. Heirs or legal representatives may prosecute such appeal as the appellant would be entitled to do if living.
f) The records and documents of the trial, including the evidence, and these only, shall be used in the hearing of any appeal.
g) The appellate body shall determine two questions only: (1) Does the weight of the evidence sustain the charge or charges? (2) Were there such errors of church law as to vitiate the verdict and/or the penalty? These questions shall be determined by the records of the trial and the argument of counsel for the Church and for the respondent. The committee on appeals shall in no case hear witnesses.
h) In all cases where an appeal is made and admitted by the appellate committee, after the charges, findings, and evidence have been read and the arguments conclude, the parties shall withdraw, and the appellate committee shall consider and decide the case. It may reverse, in whole or in part, the findings of the committee on investigation or the Trial Court, or it may remand the case for a new trial to determine verdict and/or penalty. It may determine what penalty, not higher than that affixed at the hearing or trial, may be imposed. If it neither reverses, in whole or in part, the judgment of the Trial Court, nor remands the case for a new trial, nor modifies the penalty, that judgment shall stand. The appellate committee shall not reverse the judgment nor remand the case for a new hearing or trial on account of errors plainly not affecting the result. All decisions of the appellate committee shall require a majority vote.
i) In all cases the right to present evidence shall be exhausted when the case has been heard once on its merits in the proper court, but questions of church law may be carried on appeal, step by step, to the Judicial Council.
j) Errors or defects in judicial proceedings shall be duly considered when present on appeal. (1) In regard to cases where there is an investigation under 2625 but no trial is held as a result thereof, errors of church law or administration committed by those in charge of the investigation are to be corrected by the presiding officer of the next conference on request in open session, and in such event the conference may also order just and suitable remedies if injury resulted from such errors. (2) Errors of Church law or defects in judicial proceedings which are discovered on appeal are to be corrected by the presiding officer of the next conference upon request in open session, and in such event the conference may also order just and suitable remedies if injury has resulted from such errors.
k) Questions of procedure may be raised with the presiding officer or secretary of the appellate body. Under no circumstances shall one party in the absence of the other party discuss substantive matters with members of any appellate body, while the case is pending (cf 2618).
l) In all matters of judicial administration the rights, duties, and responsibilities of clergy members and diaconal ministers of missionary conferences and provisional annual conferences are the same as those in annual conferences, and the procedure is the same.
m) Contacts with members of any appellate body shall be limited to matters of procedure and shall be directed only to the presiding officer or secretary of the appellate body. Under no circumstances shall matters of substance be discussed.
2. Appeal of a Bishop, Clergy Member of an Annual Conference, Clergy on Honorable or Administrative Location, Local Pastor, or Diaconal Minister--a) Each jurisdictional and central conference, upon nomination of the College of Bishops, shall elect a committee on appeals, composed of four (4) elders, one (1) diaconal minister, one (1) full-time local pastor, and three (3) laypersons who have been at least six (6) years successively members of The United Methodist Church, and an equal number of corresponding alternates. This committee shall serve until its successors have been elected. No member shall participate in the hearing of an appeal who is a member of a conference in the episcopal area of the appellant.
The committee on appeals shall have full power to hear and determine appeals of bishops, clergy members, clergy members on honorable or administrative location, local pastors, and diaconal ministers from any annual conference, provisional or missionary conference, within the jurisdiction or central conference. The committee shall elect its own president and secretary and shall adopt its own rules of procedure, and its decisions shall be final, except that an appeal may be taken to the Judicial Council only upon questions of law related to procedures of the jurisdictional committee on appeals, central conference committee on appeals, or under the provisions of 2615. A bishop designated by the College of Bishops shall convene the committee at the site of jurisdictional or central conference for the purpose of electing officers.
b) In case of conviction in a Trial Court a bishop, a clergy member, local pastor, clergy on honorable or administrative location, or diaconal minister shall have the right of appeal to the jurisdictional or central conference committee on appeals above constituted; provided that within thirty (30) days after the conviction the appellant shall notify the presiding bishop of the conference (or, when the appellant is a bishop, the president and secretary of the College of Bishops) and the presiding officer of the Trial Court in writing of the intention to appeal.
c) When notice of an appeal has been given to the presiding officer of the Trial Court, the presiding officer shall give notice of the same to the secretary of the committee on appeals of the jurisdictional or central conference and submit the documents in the case, or in case the documents have been sent to the secretary of the annual conference, instruct the secretary to send the documents to the president of the committee on appeals. The jurisdictional or central conference committee on appeals shall within thirty (30) days give notice to the presiding bishop of the conference from which the appeal is taken (or to the president and secretary of the College of Bishops, when the appellant is a bishop) and to the appellant of the time and place where the appeal will be heard. Such hearing shall occur within 120 days following receipt of notice to the committee on appeals. Both the annual conference, missionary conference, or provisional conference and the appellant may be represented by counsel as specified in 2626.1f. The presiding bishop of the conference, or in the appeal of a bishop, the president or secretary of the College of Bishops, shall appoint counsel for the Church.
d) All necessary traveling and sustenance expense incurred by the Committee on Appeals, the counsel for the Church, and the counsel for the appellant, in the hearing of an appeal case coming from an annual conference and appearing before any jurisdictional or central conference committee on appeals, shall be paid out of the administrative fund of the central or jurisdictional conference in which the proceedings arise. The president of the committee on appeals shall approve all expenses.
This paragraph, as it relates to the process for nomination, appointment, or election of individuals, officers, courts, administrative bodies, review bodies, or committees, shall become effective immediately upon the conclusion of the 1992 General Conference.
3. Appeal of a Lay Member--a) A lay member convicted in a Trial Court shall have the right of appeal and shall serve written notice of appeal with the pastor and the district superintendent within thirty (30) days of conviction.
b) The district superintendent shall, on receipt of notice of appeal, give written notice to all concerned of the time and place of the convening of a committee on appeals, not less than ten or more than thirty days after such notice has been delivered.
c) The committee on appeals shall be constituted in the following manner: the district superintendent shall appoint eleven (11) laypersons who are members of United Methodist Churches within the annual conference, other than the appellant's local Church, none of whom shall have been members of the Trial Court, and who hold office either as lay leader or lay member of the annual conference. At the convening of the committee on appeals, from seven (7) to eleven (11) of these shall be selected to serve on the Court. The counsel for appellant and the counsel for the Church shall have the right to challenge for cause, and the decisions on the validity of such challenges shall be made by the presiding officer, who shall be the district superintendent.
d) The findings of the committee on appeals shall be certified by the district superintendent, to the pastor of the Church of which the accused is a member.
4. Other Appeals--a) The order of appeals on questions of law shall be as follows: from the decision of the district superintendent presiding in the charge or district conference to the bishop presiding in the annual conference, and from the decision of the bishop presiding in the annual conference to the Judicial Council, and from a central conference to the Judicial Council.
b) When an appeal is taken on a question of law, written notice of the same shall be served on the secretary of the body in which the decision has been rendered. It shall be the secretary's duty to see that an exact statement of the question submitted and the ruling of the chair thereon shall be entered on the journal. The secretary shall then make and certify a copy of the question and ruling and transmit the same to the secretary of the body to which the appeal is taken. The secretary who thus receives said certified copy shall present the same in open conference and as soon as practicable lay it before the presiding officer for a ruling hereon, which ruling must be rendered before the final adjournment of that body, that said ruling together with the original question and ruling may be entered on the journal of that conference. The same course shall be followed in all subsequent appeals.
14See Judicial Council Decision 3.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
1992 Book of Discipline: ¶ 2627
1996 United Methodist General Conference