North Carolina Court Information

There are 4 kinds of courts in North Carolina’s court system and they are:

•    North Carolina Supreme Court
•    North Carolina Appelas Court
•    North Carolina Superior Court (present in 46 districts)
•    North Carolina District Courts (present in 45 districts)

North Carolina Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is the highest appellate court. Actually, this was the only appellate court in the state until the North Carolina Appeals Court was established, which was in the 1960s.

In the state’s Supreme Court, there are 6 associate justices and one chief justice at this time, but it needs to be mentioned here that the number of justices has varied from time to time. All justices of the Supreme Court must retire before the last day of the month in which he/she turns 72.

The main work of this court of NC is to determine questions of law that have arisen in the lower courts and before state administrative agencies, including those from the Appeals Court that are reviewed upon petition.

The North Carolina Supreme Court is located in Raleigh and authorized by the constitution in the state. Decisions made by this court can be appealed to the Supreme Court of the U.S.

http://www.nccourts.org/Courts/Appellate/Supreme

is the website of the NC Supreme Court.

NC Appeals Court

Among all North Carolina courts, this is the one and only intermediate level appellate court in NC. There are 15 judges who assemble in 3 member panels that rotate when deciding cases. The judges serve for 8 years and need to be re-elected by non-partisan statewide elections.

The Appeals Court was established by the state legislature in 1967 after voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1965 which "authorized the creation of an intermediate appeals court to relieve pressure on North Carolina Supreme Court."

The website of the NC Appeals Court is

http://www.nccourts.org/Courts/Appellate/Appeal

.

North Carolina Superior Courts

These courts are at the trial level in the state. The court handles all cases that involve felony and civil cases that exceed $10,000 and infraction and misdemeanor appeals that come from District Court. In the Superior Courts, there is 12 member jury that hears all criminal cases. In the civil cases however, juries are often waived.

The Superior Courts are split into 46 districts and 8 divisions. In general, the judges rotate among the various districts within their division every 6 months. In recent times, this rotation has been suspended due to budgetary constraints. This system was adopted to avoid any cases of favoritism that can happen from having a permanent judge in a district.

The Superior Courts of the state are housed in the county seat of each county. The North Carolina Superior Courts website is

http://www.nccourts.org/Courts/Trial/Superior/Default.asp

.

North Carolina District Courts

These are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in the state. Like the Superior Courts, there is a District Court housed in the county seat of each county.

http://www.nccourts.org/Courts/Trial/District/Default.asp

is the official website of the NC District Courts.