Legal Definitions - de novo review

De novo review is a legal term derived from Latin, meaning "from the new" or "from the beginning." When a court conducts a de novo review, it examines a case or a specific legal issue as if it were being heard for the first time, without giving any deference or special weight to a previous decision made by a lower court or an administrative body. This means the reviewing court makes its own independent determination on the legal questions presented, rather than simply checking for errors or unreasonableness in the prior decision.

Here are some examples illustrating de novo review:

• Review of an Administrative Agency's Legal Interpretation: Imagine a state environmental protection agency denies a company a permit, interpreting a specific clause in an environmental law in a particular way. The company appeals this denial to a state court. The court might perform a de novo review of the agency's interpretation of that legal clause. This means the court will independently decide what the law means, without simply accepting the agency's interpretation, even if the agency's view was reasonable. The court treats the legal question as if it's the first time it's being decided, forming its own conclusion on the law's meaning.

• Appellate Review of a Trial Court's Legal Ruling: During a criminal trial, the judge rules that certain evidence obtained by the police is admissible because the search warrant used was legally valid. The defendant is convicted and appeals the conviction. The appellate court will typically conduct a de novo review of the trial judge's legal conclusion regarding the validity of the search warrant. The appellate court will independently examine the facts related to the warrant and the applicable law to determine if the warrant was legally sound, rather than just checking if the trial judge made a "reasonable" decision. The appellate court substitutes its own judgment on the legal question of the warrant's validity.

• Full Retrial in a Higher Court for Minor Cases: In some legal systems, an appeal from a minor court, such as a small claims court or a traffic court, might involve a de novo review in a higher court. For example, if someone appeals a parking ticket fine from an administrative hearing, the next level of appeal might involve a full hearing in a municipal court where all evidence and arguments are presented again from scratch, as if the initial hearing never happened. The municipal court isn't merely reviewing the administrative officer's decision for errors; it's conducting a completely new trial on the matter, hearing witnesses and evidence anew.