North Carolina Supreme Court

North Carolina Supreme Court
Seal of the Supreme Court of North Carolina
Established	1818
Country	North Carolina , United States
Location	Raleigh, North Carolina
Authorized by	North Carolina Constitution
Decisions are appealed to	Supreme Court of the United States
Judge term length	8 years
Number of positions	7
Website	NCcourts.org
Chief Justice
Currently	Sarah Parker
Since	January 2006
Lead position ends	January 2015

The Supreme Court of North Carolina is the state'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 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 courts 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 Superior Court (trial) judges sitting en banc twice each year to review appeals from their own 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 to 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, 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. Today, these races are non-partisan.

Susie Sharp 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.

The Supreme Court is housed in the Law and Justice Building, located across from the North Carolina State Capitol 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 was amended to Suum cuique tribuere.

Justices

Main article: List of Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court

Current Justices

The Court's current (January 2013) members are:

Name	Born	Joined	Term Ends	Mandatory Retirement	Law School Attended
Sarah Parker, Chief Justice	1942	1993	2014	Aug. 23, 2014	University of North Carolina School of Law
Cheri Beasley	1966	2013	2014	Feb. 14, 2038	University of Tennessee College of Law
Robert H. Edmunds, Jr.	1949	2001	2016	April 17, 2021	University of North Carolina School of Law
Robin E. Hudson	1952	2007	2014	Feb. 20, 2024	University of North Carolina School of Law
Barbara Jackson	1961	2011	2018	Dec. 25, 2033	University of North Carolina School of Law
Mark Martin	1963	1999	2014	April 29, 2035	University of North Carolina School of Law
Paul Martin Newby	1955	2004	2020	May 5, 2027	University of North Carolina School of Law

Chief Justices

Note that dates are for service as Chief Justice only. Many Chief Justices have also served as associate justices.

1. John Louis Taylor (1818–1829)
2. Leonard Henderson (1829–1833)
3. Thomas Ruffin (1833–1852)
4. Frederick Nash (1852–1858)
5. Richmond Mumford Pearson (1858–1878)
6. William Nathan Harrell Smith (1878–1889)
7. Augustus Summerfield Merrimon (1889–1892)
8. James E. Shepherd (1893–1895)
9. William T. Faircloth (1895–1901)
10. David M. Furches (1901–1903)
11. Walter Clark (1903–1924)
12. William A. Hoke (1924–1925)
13. Walter P. Stacy (1925–1951)
14. William A. Devin (1951–1954)
15. M.V. Barnhill (1954–1956)
16. J. Wallace Winborne (1956–1962)
17. Emery B. Denny (1962–1966)
18. R. Hunt Parker (1966–1969)
19. William H. Bobbitt (1969–1974)
20. Susie Sharp (1975–1979)
21. Joseph Branch (1979–1986)
22. Rhoda Billings (1986)
23. James G. Exum (1986–1995)
24. Burley Mitchell (1995–1999)
25. Henry Frye (1999–2001)
26. I. Beverly Lake, Jr. (2001–2006)
27. Sarah Parker (2006-present)

See also

• North Carolina Court of Appeals

External links

• North Carolina Supreme Court official page
• History of the NC Supreme Court
• History of the Supreme Court by Chief Justice Walter Clark (1919)
• NC Supreme Court Historical Society
• NC Manual of 1913 by Robert Digges Wimberly Connor