Part 3: Powers for dealing with domestic abuse Section 46: Appeals
This section sets out the circumstances in which an affected person may appeal against a decision of a court in respect of a DAPO.
	Subsections (1) to (4) provide that the perpetrator, victim, or the person who made the application for a DAPO may appeal against a court’s decision to make or decline to make an order. Subsection (5) and (6) enable such persons, together with the police, to appeal against a court’s decision to vary or discharge an order, or a decision to decline to vary or discharge an order. Subsections (1) and (2) provide firstly that either the applicant or victim may appeal against any decision of a court following an application made under section 28 and, secondly, that the perpetrator may appeal against the making of a DAPO made on application under that section. Subsections (3) and (4) provide that the perpetrator may appeal against the making or variation of a DAPO made or varied in a criminal court during ongoing proceedings as described in section 31; and in such a case, the making or variation of an order would be treated as a sentence for the purposes of the appeal. Subsection (5) provides that those named in subsection (6) may appeal against a decision of the court made under section 44 on an application to vary or discharge a DAPO. In all other cases, in particular appeals against decisions made by the family or civil courts, no express provision is made here as the existing rights of appeal against decisions made in those courts will apply.
	Subsection (7) sets out the court to which an appeal is to be made. Appeals from a decision of a family or county court judge should be made in accordance with existing provision (see in particular the Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) (Family Proceedings) Order 2014 (SI 2014/602), as amended, and the Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) Order 2016 (SI 2016/917) which are summarised in table format in the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (Practice Direction 30A) and Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (Practice Direction 52), respectively). For appeals from a criminal court, the destination of appeal is as follows:
For a decision made by a magistrates’ court – the Crown Court;
For a decision made by the Crown Court – the Court of Appeal.