The term remand may be used to describe an action by an appellate court

Appellate court

An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals or appeal court , is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal...

 in which it remands, or sends back, a case to the trial court

Trial court

A trial court or court of first instance is a court in which trials take place. Such courts are said to have original jurisdiction.- In the United States :...

 or lower appellate court for action.

For example, if the trial judge committed a procedural error, failed to admit evidence

Evidence (law)

The law of evidence encompasses the rules and legal principles that govern the proof of facts in a legal proceeding. These rules determine what evidence can be considered by the trier of fact in reaching its decision and, sometimes, the weight that may be given to that evidence...

 or witnesses which the appellate court ruled should have been admitted, or ruled improperly on a litigant's motion, the appellate court may send the case back to the lower court

Lower court

A lower court is a court from which an appeal may be taken. In relation to an appeal from one court to another, the lower court is the court whose decision is being reviewed, which may be the original trial court or an appellate court lower in rank than the superior court which is hearing the...

 for retrial or other action.

A case is said to be "remanded" when the superior court

Superior court

In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...

 returns or sends back the case to the lower court. Also, a court may be said to retry the case "on remand."

United States

A remand may be a full remand, essentially ordering an entirely new trial

Trial (law)

In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...

. Alternatively, it may be "with instructions" specifying, for example, that the lower court must have considered alternative theories or evidence not entertained at trial. It may be a partial remand as when an appellate court affirms a conviction while directing the lower court to revisit the sentencing

Sentence (law)

In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...

 phase. The appellate court may remand a case, upon concluding that the lower court not only made a mistake, but also did not adjudicate issues that must now be considered. When the appellate court remands on such grounds, the lower court's decision is "reversed and remanded."

A federal court may also remand when a civil case is filed in a state court and the defendant

Defendant

A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...

 removes

Removal jurisdiction

In the United States, removal jurisdiction refers to the right of a defendant to move a lawsuit filed in state court to the federal district court for the federal judicial district in which the state court sits. This is a general exception to the usual American rule giving the plaintiff the right...

 the case to the local federal district court. If the federal court decides that the case was not one in which removal was permissible, it may "remand" the case to state court. Here, the federal court is not an appellate court as in the case above, and the case was remanded, not because the state court did anything erroneous, but because the removal to the federal court was improperly taken.