The Superior Court is

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

general jurisdiction {{Globalize, article, USA, 2name=the United States, date=December 2010 A court of general jurisdiction is a court with authority to hear cases of all kinds – criminal, civil, family, probate, and so forth. United States All federal courts ar ...

trial court A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually made by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). Mos ...

. It was established in 1777 and is North Carolina's oldest court.

Jurisdiction and administration

The Superior Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction in North Carolina. It hears all felony cases and certain misdemeanor cases. In civil matters, superior courts have

original jurisdiction In common law legal systems original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. India In India, the Sup ...

over civil disputes with an

amount in controversy Amount in controversy (sometimes called jurisdictional amount) is a term used in civil procedure to denote the amount at stake in a lawsuit, in particular in connection with a requirement that persons seeking to bring a lawsuit in a particular cour ...

exceeding $25,000. (This amount was formerly $10,000, but this jurisdictional amount was increased effective August 1, 2013). The superior court also adjudicates appeals from administrative agencies, and appeals of misdemeanor cases from the

North Carolina District Courts In the U.S. state of North Carolina, District Courts are tribunals inferior to the Suprerior Court. In criminal matters, they jurisdiction over misdemeanor and infraction cases. In civil matters, the courts have original jurisdiction over civil dis ...

. The Superior Courts are divided into 8 divisions and further into 50 districts. There are 97 regular Superior Court judges under current state law, in addition to "special judges" who are appointed by the Governor, not elected.McGee: So what’s special about a special superior court judge?
/ref> Judges rotate from district to district within their division every six months in order to avoid the danger of corruption or favoritism.

History

The Superior Court is the state's oldest court, having been established in 1777. The first three judges elected by the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

were Samuel Ashe of

New Hanover County New Hanover County is one of 100 counties located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 225,702. Though the second-smallest NC county in land area, it is one of the most populous, as its county seat, Wilm ...

, Samuel Spencer of

Anson County Anson County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,055. Its county seat is Wadesboro. History The county was formed in 1750 from Bladen County. It was named for George Anson, Ba ...

, and future

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Justice

James Iredell James Iredell (October 5, 1751 – October 20, 1799) was one of the first Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was appointed by President George Washington and served from 1790 until his death in 1799. His son, James Iredel ...

of Chowan County. Until the creation of a separate

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

in 1818, Superior Court judges sitting together functioned as the state's only

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

References

* {{cite book, editor-last = Cooper, editor-first = Christopher A., editor-last2 = Knotts, editor-first2 = H. Gibbs, title = The New Politics of North Carolina, publisher = University of North Carolina Press, location=Chapel Hill, date = 2012, url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FaQKnGIU-TwC, isbn = 9781469606583 North Carolina state courts

1777 in North Carolina Courts and tribunals established in 1777

Jurisdiction and administration

History

See also

References

References