On appeal from the decision of a lower court or
petition for review of the order of an
administrative agency,
remand refers to an order returning the case to the lower court or agency in order for it to proceed in a manner consistent with the rules and standards enunciated in the
appellate court's opinion.
For example, let's say that the lower court in a capital case admitted inappropriate "victim impact" testimony during the
guilt phase of the trial. If the
defendant gets convicted, on appeal, he'll likely argue that the
verdict should be thrown out because admission of that evidence is
reversible error. If the appellate court agrees, it will
reverse the lower court's decision, and
remand the case back to the lower court, so that it can proceed with a new trial in which the improper evidence is not introduced. The standard formula used by appellate courts in this case is:
We remand the case to the court below for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.