<P> Alternatively, it may be "with instructions" specifying, for example, that the lower court must use a different legal standard when considering facts already entered at trial . A partial remand occurs when an appellate court affirms a conviction while directing the lower court to revisit the sentencing phase of the trial . Finally, it may remand a case upon concluding that the lower court made a mistake and also did not adjudicate issues that must be considered . </P> <P> A federal court may also remand when a civil case is filed in a state court and the defendant removes the case to the local federal district court . If the federal court decides that the case was not one in which removal was permissible, it may remand the case to state court . Here, the federal court is not an appellate court as in the case above, and the case was remanded because the removal to the federal court was improper . </P> <P> In federal tribunals in the United States, it is possible for an Article III court to remand a case to an Article I court (if the case was originally decided by the Article I court and then appealed to the Article III court), or for a higher - level administrative tribunal within an executive agency to remand a case to a lower - level tribunal within the same agency . </P> <P> While Article III courts are allowed to remand a case back to Article I courts, there is a recent trend divesting magistrate judges from the power to remand cases back to state court . The same statutory basis for divesting magistrate judges of their power to remand may logically be applied to Article I judges . </P>

When does an error of a district court not result in reversal