A Litigant is not the Same as an Appellant

Many people mix up these legal terms, but in law, they don’t mean the same thing.

A litigant is simply any person involved in a case before a court. Whether you are the one suing (the plaintiff/claimant) or the one being sued (the defendant), you are a litigant. In short, if you are standing before the court over a matter, you are a litigant.

An appellant on the other hand only comes into the picture when a case has been decided in one court and someone is not satisfied with the judgment. If you lose in the High Court and you take the matter to the Court of Appeal, you are no longer just a litigant you have become an appellant. The other party automatically becomes the respondent.
So, every appellant is a litigant, but not every litigant is an appellant.

A litigant is at the starting stage; an appellant is at the appeal stage. Understanding this difference is important. When you hear that “the appellant has filed an appeal,” know that it is someone who has already passed through trial in one court and is now challenging that decision in a higher court.

Court language has meaning. Don’t mix them up.