remanded

Remanded is a legal term used in criminal and appellate procedure to describe sending a case back to a lower court for further action, or holding a person in custody while awaiting further proceedings. As a verb, to remand means to send back or return a case for additional handling, or to order someone to be detained or kept in custody.

In criminal law, remand commonly appears in two forms. A defendant can be remanded in custody, meaning they are held in detention while awaiting trial or further hearings. Alternatively, a defendant can be remanded on bail, meaning custody is not required but conditions are imposed or a future date is set. Remand decisions often occur when the court assesses flight risk, risk to public safety, or potential interference with witnesses, and they may be temporary or for the duration of investigations or pretrial proceedings.

In appellate procedure, remanding a case means sending it back to the trial court (or an intermediate court) with directions. The lower court may be instructed to conduct additional proceedings, receive new evidence, apply the appellate ruling, or issue a new ruling consistent with appellate guidance. A remand can be with or without specific instructions, depending on the appellate court’s analysis and the issues on appeal.

Etymologically, remand derives from Old French remander, meaning to send back or to order again, from re- “back” and mander “to order.” The term is used in many common law jurisdictions, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, with meanings that align closely to the concepts of returning a case for further action or detaining a defendant.