Final answer:
An appeal is part of the appellate jurisdiction, which is a higher court's power to review and change a lower court's decision. In the U.S., the Courts of Appeals handle most appellate cases after the 1891 shift of appellate jurisdiction from circuit courts.
Step-by-step explanation:
An appeal belongs to the class of motions in the legal system known as appellate jurisdiction. This is the power of a higher court to review and revise the decision of a lower court. The United States Supreme Court, for instance, has appellate jurisdiction in the majority of cases it hears, which means it reviews cases after they have been decided by a lower court such as the US Court of Appeals or a state Supreme Court. In the federal court system, while district courts hold original jurisdiction, appellate jurisdiction primarily falls within the purview of the circuit courts, or U.S. Courts of Appeals, which were designated to handle such appeals after 1891, following the abolishment of the original jurisdiction of circuit courts over civil suits that originated in the district courts.