De novo is a Latin phrase meaning "from the beginning." In de novo review, the appellate court does not defer to the decisions made in the trial court and looks at the issue as if the trial court had never ruled on it. This type of review is generally limited to issues involving questions of _law_. If the issues involve questions of law — like the interpretation of a contract or a statute — the appellate court does not assume the trial court's ruling is correct but looks at the issue from the beginning (de novo), exercising its independent judgment. But this kind of review is still not a new trial because the appellate court does not look at new evidence and bases its review on the evidence in the record from the trial court. Source: https://www.courts.ca.gov/12431.htm See Also: * "[[Abuse of Discretion|Abuse of discretion]]" Standard * "[[Substantial Evidence|Substantial evidence]]" Standard