809.01 Rule (Definitions). - Wisconsin Statutes

809.01

SUBCHAPTER I
DEFINITIONS
809.01 Rule (Definitions). In this chapter:

809.01(1)

(1) "Appeal" means a review in an appellate court by appeal or writ of error authorized by law of a judgment or order of a circuit court.

809.01(2)

(2) "Appellant" means a person who files a notice of appeal.

809.01(3)

(3) "Co-appellant" means a person who files a notice of appeal in an action or proceeding in which a notice of appeal has previously been filed by another person and whose interests are not adverse to that person.

809.01(4)

(4) "Court" means the court of appeals or, if the appeal or other proceeding is in the supreme court, the supreme court.

809.01(5)

(5) "Cross-appellant" means a respondent who files a notice of cross-appeal or a respondent who files a statement of objections under s. 808.075 (8).

809.01(5d)

(5d) "Monospaced font" means a font in which each character uses an equal amount of horizontal space.

809.01(5g)

(5g) "Proportional font" means a font in which the horizontal space used by a character varies.

809.01(6)

(6) "Respondent" means a person adverse to the appellant or co-appellant.

809.01(8)

(8) "Serif font" means a font that has short ornaments or bars at the upper and lower ends of the main strokes of the characters.

809.01(8m)

(8m) "Sixty characters per full line" means the length of a nonindented line of 13 point proportional serif font characters determined by using a line composed of a repeating string of lowercase characters in alphabetical order.

809.01(12)

(12) "Word" means a group consisting of one or more alphabetical characters with a space or punctuation mark preceding and succeeding the group.

809.01 - ANNOT.

History: Sup. Ct. Order, 83 Wis. 2d xiii (1978); 1977 c. 449; Sup. Ct. Order No. 93-20, 179 Wis. 2d xxv; Sup. Ct. Order No. 00-02, 2001 WI 39, 242 Wis. 2d xxvii.

809.01 - ANNOT.

Judicial Council Committee's Note, 1978: The definitions reflect some of the changes incorporated into the rules. The term "appeal" applies both to an appeal authorized by statute and the writ of error guaranteed by Section 21 of Article I of the Constitution. The objective of these rules is to provide the same procedure for appeals and writs of error. Historically, the review authorized by a writ of error was limited to questions of law, while both the law and the facts could be reviewed on appeal. The Wisconsin Supreme Court does not distinguish between its power in appeals and in writs of error. Although under the former procedure appeals were normally used in civil cases and writs of error in criminal cases, the only differences between them were in nomenclature and method of initiating the review process. There is no reason to retain the formalistic differences between them.

809.01 - ANNOT.

The definitions of the parties to the appeal are intended to change the former statute, section 817.10, under which the party first appealing was the appellant, and all other parties were respondents. This often resulted in a party with interests identical to the appellant being labeled a respondent, while two parties opposed to each other were both labeled respondents. Under this section the party first appealing is the appellant, parties appealing from the same judgment or order not opposed to the appellant are co-appellants, and parties adverse to the appellant or co-appellant are respondents. The terms "plaintiff in error" and "defendant in error" previously used in connection with writs of error are no longer used. [Re Order effective July 1, 1978]

809.01 - ANNOT.

Understanding the New Rules of Appellate Procedure. Stephens. Wis. Law. July 2001.