appeal sth/for sth

[alice-5]

Do British people say "they appeal his conviction" or "they appeal for his conviction"?

 

[stanislaw.masny]

Do British people say "they appeal his conviction" or "they appeal for his conviction"?

Not a teacher.

I would use a different word: "they are appealing the verdict".

 

[jutfrank]

First of all, no, because 'conviction' doesn't collocate with 'appeal'. You need 'decision' or something with a very similar meaning.

Secondly, the question you're really asking is whether this legal sense of the verb 'appeal' can take a direct object or whether it needs the preposition 'against' ('appeal for something' has a different meaning). Well, according to Collins (entry 4 in the link below), British English uses 'against' whereas American English prefers a direct object with no preposition. I personally prefer the American way.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/appeal

 

[emsr2d2]

First of all, no, because 'conviction' doesn't collocate with 'appeal'.

I don't often disagree with jutfrank but THIS (UK) page shows "In criminal cases, defendants can appeal against their conviction, sentence or both".

 

[emsr2d2]

Do speakers of British English people say "They appeal his conviction" or "They appeal for his conviction"?

1. If "he" (singular) has been convicted, then "he" is appealing his conviction (not "they"). Yes, the person is probably using the services of a legal term to lodge the appeal but nonetheless he is the one appealing his conviction.
2. The use of the present tense is unlikely here. We'd use the present continuous if the appeal has been lodged but not yet heard, or the past simple if a decision has been made by the appellate court.
3. Don't say "British people" when you mean native BrE speakers. There are thousands of people who hold a British passport whose first language is not British English.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't often disagree with jutfrank but THIS (UK) page shows "In criminal cases, defendants can appeal against their conviction, sentence or both".

I think that's a misuse. You can appeal a sentence, yes, because it involves a particular decision, but not really a conviction. You can also appeal the verdict (which is also a decision) that leads to a conviction, but verdict and conviction are not the same thing.

Yes, I admit I'm being pedantic here but I thought it was a good way to start the year.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think that's a misuse. You can appeal a sentence, yes, because it involves a particular decision, but not really a conviction. You can also appeal the verdict (which is also a decision) that leads to a conviction, but verdict and conviction are not the same thing.

Yes, I admit I'm being pedantic here but I thought it was a good way to start the year.

Well, since we're being pedantic, here's the link to the relevant page of the official GOV.UK website which, while using "appeal Crown Court verdict" in the URL and "Appeal a Crown Court decision" as the title of the section, uses "appeal [against] conviction" no less than three times in the first eleven lines of text.

 

[jutfrank]

That seems like a good source, emsr2d2. It's interesting that the title uses the transitive verb (Appeal a Crown Court decision) without any preposition. That's what I would use too, rather than 'against'. I'm not sure what to make of the fact that Collins labels this usage as American.

Apart from the repeated collocations with 'conviction', it's also interesting to me that the passage uses both the intransitive verb (You can appeal against your Crown Court conviction) and the transitive one (Before you can appeal a conviction or sentence) in the first two paragraphs. In fact, both forms are used seemingly inconsistently throughout the text. I don't know what that means.

 

[Skrej]

I can't speak to why Collins labels the usage AmE, but to appeal a conviction/sentence/verdict are all acceptable and common in AmE.

Do British people say "they appeal his conviction" or "they appeal for his conviction"?

Regional usage aside, note that these mean opposite things. In the first case, his was convicted and now they're appealing that conviction. In the second case, he was not convicted and now they're appealing to get him convicted.

(We'll just side-step the jurisprudence issues of how appeals and double-jeopardy work for the sake of lexical analysis.)

 

[Tarheel]

Do British people say "they appeal his conviction" or "they appeal for his conviction"?

I don't think the second one is used at all. However, it's possible that one of the British members will say something else.

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't think the second one is used at all. However, it's possible that one of the British members will say something else.

It would be used only in the context given by Skrej at the end of the second paragraph of post #9. Even then, we'd be more likely to say something like "The victim is trying to make a case for the not guilty verdict to be overturned and the defendant to be found guilty". I know it's more wordy but the one with "appeal for" doesn't sound natural to me.