The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest

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 ...

. Until the creation of the

North Carolina Court of Appeals The North Carolina Court of Appeals (in case citation, N.C. Ct. App.) is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating panels of three. The Court of Appeals was created ...

in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice, although the number of justices has varied from time to time. The primary function of the Supreme Court is to decide questions of law that have arisen in the

lower court A lower court or inferior court is a court from which an appeal may be taken, usually referring to courts other than supreme court. In relation to an appeal from one court to another, the lower court is the court whose decision is being reviewed ...

s and before state administrative agencies.

History

The first North Carolina appellate court, created in 1799, was called the Court of Conference and consisted of several

North Carolina Superior Court The Superior Court is North Carolina's general jurisdiction trial court. 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 Caroli ...

(trial) judges sitting ''en banc'' twice each year to review appeals from their courts. In 1805 it was named the Supreme Court, and a seal and motto were to be procured. From the time the North Carolina General Assembly created the Court as a distinct body in 1818 until 1868, the members of the Court were chosen by the General Assembly and served for life, or "during good behavior." The legislature appointed John Louis Taylor,

Leonard Henderson Leonard Henderson (October 6, 1772 – August 13, 1833) was an American jurist who served as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829 to 1833, and an associate judge of that court beforehand. Biography Henderson was born in G ...

, and John Hall as the first Supreme Court judges. The three judges were allowed to select their own Chief Justice, and they chose Taylor. The Court first met on January 1, 1819. Since the adoption of the 1868 state constitution, each justice has been elected (separately, including a distinct Chief Justice position) by the people to an eight-year term. There are no term limits, but there are age limits of 72. The General Assembly made Supreme Court elections non-partisan starting with the

2004 elections 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

, but later made them partisan again after the

2016 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2016. Africa Benin Republic * 2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 ...

Susie Sharp Susie Marshall Sharp (July 7, 1907 – March 1, 1996) was an American jurist who served as the first female chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. She was not the first woman to head the highest court in a U.S. state, but is bel ...

became the court's first female justice in 1962 (and later, she became its first female chief justice). In 2011, the court had a female majority for the first time (that majority ended in 2014 with the retirement of Chief Justice Sarah Parker). The Supreme Court is housed in the Law and Justice Building, located across from the

North Carolina State Capitol The North Carolina State Capitol is the former seat of the legislature of the U.S. state of North Carolina which housed all of the state's government until 1888. The Supreme Court and State Library moved into a separate building in 1888, and th ...

in Raleigh, North Carolina. The building was built in 1940 and underwent major renovations in 2005–2007. In 1975, a new seal was adopted. The old Latin phrase

Suum cuique "" (), or "''Unicuique suum''", is a Latin phrase often translated as "to each his own" or "may all get their due". It has been significant in the history of philosophy and as a motto. History Antiquity The Latin phrase relates to an old G ...

was amended to Suum cuique tribuere.

''Bayard v. Singleton'' (1787)

African American Justices of the NC Supreme Court (cropped)

The court's controversial 1787 decision in ''Bayard v. Singleton'' is among its most significant. ''Bayard'', involving a dispute over property confiscated during the Revolutionary War, was the first ruling in America to declare a legislative act unconstitutional, thus establishing the principle of

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompa ...

. Judicial review was later adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court in '' Marbury v. Madison'' (1803). The ruling led to a discussion between Supreme Court 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 Iredell ...

and

Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

Richard Dobbs Spaight as to the proper role of judges in the Constitutional Republic, leaving Spaight questioning if a court had a right to overturn the legislation. ''Bayard'' involved a host of North Carolina's Revolutionary Era luminaries: future U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Alfred Moore Alfred Moore (May 21, 1755 – October 15, 1810) was an American judge, lawyer, planter and military officer who became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Moore Square, a park located in the Moore Square Histo ...

argued the case on behalf of the state, and the opinion was written by future Governor of North Carolina Samuel Ashe. Though ''Bayard'' was technically decided by the

, before the Supreme Court of North Carolina was established, it is now widely attributed to the current supreme court.

Justices

Current justices

The Court's current members are:

Chief justices

''Note that dates are for service as chief justice only. Many chief justices have also served as associate justices.'' # John Louis Taylor (1818–1829) #

(1829–1833) # Thomas Ruffin (1833–1852) # Frederick Nash (1852–1858) #

Richmond Mumford Pearson Richmond Mumford Pearson (1805–1878) was an American jurist who served as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1858 to 1878. He was the father of Congressman Richmond Pearson and the father-in-law of North Carolina Governor ...

(1858–1878) # William Nathan Harrell Smith (1878–1889) # Augustus Summerfield Merrimon (1889–1892) # James E. Shepherd (1893–1895) # William T. Faircloth (1895–1901) # David M. Furches (1901–1903) # Walter Clark (1903–1924) # William A. Hoke (1924–1925) # Walter P. Stacy (1925–1951) # William A. Devin (1951–1954) # M.V. Barnhill (1954–1956) # J. Wallace Winborne (1956–1962) # Emery B. Denny (1962–1966) # R. Hunt Parker (1966–1969) #

William H. Bobbitt William Haywood Bobbitt (October 18, 1900 – September 27, 1992), was an American jurist and chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Bobbitt was born in 1900 in Raleigh, North Carolina and earned his law degree at the University of Nor ...

(1969–1974) #

(1975–1979) # Joseph Branch (1979–1986) # Rhoda Billings (1986) #

James G. Exum James Gooden Exum Jr. also known as Jim Exum (born September 14, 1935) is an American jurist who served on the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1975 to 1994, and as chief justice from 1986 to 1994. Under his leadership, the court "expanded civil ...

(1986–1995) # Burley Mitchell (1995–1999) #

Henry Frye Henry E. Frye (born August 1, 1932) is an American judge and politician who served as the first African-American chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Early life and education Henry Frye was born August 1, 1932, in Ellerbe, Richmond ...

(1999–2001) # I. Beverly Lake Jr. (2001–2006) # Sarah Parker (2006–2014) # Mark Martin (2014–2019) #

Cheri Beasley Cheri Lynn Beasley (born February 14, 1966) is an American attorney and jurist who served as the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 2019 to 2020; she was appointed an associate justice in 2012. Beasley had previously served o ...

(2019–2020) # Paul Newby (2021–present)

Notes

External links

North Carolina Supreme Court official page

Video: Reflections on the History of the Supreme Court of North Carolina

History of the Supreme Court by Chief Justice Walter Clark (1919)

NC Supreme Court Historical Society

by

Robert Digges Wimberly Connor Robert Digges Wimberly Connor (September 26, 1878 – February 25, 1950) was an American historian who served as the first state archivist of North Carolina from 1907 to 1921, and later as the first Archivist of the United States from 1934 to 1 ...

{{authority control North Carolina state courts North Carolina 1818 establishments in North Carolina Courts and tribunals established in 1818