2
[Title Panel]
Law and Justice The Supreme Court of North Carolina
1819–2019
[INTRO PANEL TO THE LEFT] A Court for the People North Carolina can rightly take pride in its
Supreme Court, an institution that has lasted
for 200 years and produced a remarkable
body of law that is vital to the everyday lives
of its citizens. The Supreme Court of North
Carolina decides issues of life and death,
crime and punishment, marriage and divorce,
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child welfare, public education,
environmental protection, contract and
property rights, statutory interpretation, civil
rights, and constitutional law.
The Supreme Court was founded in the early
years of our nation to solve problems
affecting the quality of justice. The Court—
and through it, our laws—has evolved and
adapted to tremendous historical events: the
Industrial Revolution, the Civil War,
Reconstruction, rapid population growth, the
civil rights era, North Carolina’s integration
into the global economy, and the age of the
computer and the internet.
As the Court begins its third century in
service to the people of North Carolina, its
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justices remain as guardians of ordered
liberty in a constitutional republic.
[IMAGES]
Courtesy of State Archives of North Carolina,
The News & Observer of Raleigh, Chris Mears
Please turn left and begin the exhibit
with the glass wall case of books.
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[ARTIFACTS, GLASS CASE]
Legal Treatises and Other Law Books
Throughout the Court’s history its justices
solved complicated legal questions by
turning to the leading legal treatises of
the day. Published in both America and
Britain, these authoritative works
analyzed criminal law, property,
contracts, fraud, libel, and other topics.
The Supreme Court’s collection includes a
four-volume set of Sir William
Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws
of England. Originally published in 1765–
1770, this edition was printed in 1793
and predates the Supreme Court by 26
years.
Loan, Supreme Court Library
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[PANEL] The Role of the Supreme Court of North
Carolina
• Highest court in North Carolina
• Final word on whether state government
action violates the North Carolina
Constitution
• Discretionary review of unanimously
decided criminal and civil cases from the
Court of Appeals
• Mandatory review, if appealed, of criminal
and civil cases from the Court of Appeals
where there was a dissenting opinion
• Mandatory review, if appealed, of cases
from the Court of Appeals involving a
substantial question under the United
States or North Carolina constitutions
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• Mandatory and exclusive appellate review
of first-degree murder cases tried by the
Superior Court where the defendant
received a death sentence
• Mandatory and exclusive appellate review
of trial court decisions by the North
Carolina Business Court
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[PANEL]
The Work of the Justices
North Carolina Supreme Court justices decide
both criminal and civil cases. By the time a
case reaches the Supreme Court, it has
already been decided at the trial level, and
sometimes at the Court of Appeals. An appeal
to the Supreme Court is the final stop for an
appeal in the state court system.
The justices read briefs submitted by the
parties to the appeal: the appellant, who filed
the appeal, and the appellee, who opposes
the appeal. The briefs state each side’s view
of the facts of the case and the law that
applies to it. The justices, assisted by their
legal clerks, do their own research into the
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law and review the evidence offered to the
trial judge or jury.
Once a case is briefed to the Court, oral
arguments are held. The attorneys for each
side are given the opportunity to argue their
positions and answer questions from the
justices. The justices then vote on which
party should win the appeal. Supreme Court
cases are decided by a majority vote
(typically, four of the seven justices must
agree on the outcome).
One of the justices in the majority drafts a
written opinion and then shares it with the
others, who may offer criticisms and
changes. After revisions, the opinion is
finalized and published. Court opinions are
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published on the internet and bound in a
hardback official reporter. Once published,
the opinion is then the law of the case and
becomes precedent for similar cases in the
future.
[IMAGE CAPTIONS, TOP GROUP]
The justices work closely with their law clerks
to research and analyze the law and write
decisions.
From top to bottom: Justice Anita Earles
(right) and Jean-Paul Jacquet; Justices
Michael R. Morgan (left) and Hunter
Mashburn; and Justice Samuel J. Ervin IV
(left) and Wes Tripp.
Courtesy Chris Mears
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[IMAGE CAPTION, BOTTOM]
The current justices of the Supreme Court.
Back row, left to right: Anita Earles, Samuel
J. Ervin IV, Michael R. Morgan, Mark A.
Davis. Front row, left to right: Paul Newby,
Cheri L. Beasley, Robin E. Hudson.
Courtesy Judicial Branch
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[PANEL]
The Supreme Court, by the Numbers
• 7: Current number of justices on the
Supreme Court, with one chief justice and
six associate justices
• 101: Total number of justices who have
served on the Court since 1819
• 29: Total number of chief justices since
1819
• 4: Total number of women chief justices
• 35 years: Longest-serving justice: Walter
Clark (justice and chief justice), from
1889–1924
• 26: Longest-serving chief justice: Walter
P. Stacy, from 1925–1951
• 7: Total number of African American
justices
• 8: Total number of women justices
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• 113: Number of opinions in 1819
• 114: Number of opinions in 2018
• 49,000+: Total number of published
Court opinions issued since 1819
• 1,360: Number of cases in 2018 that
were dismissed or in which the Court
denied review without opinions
• 165,000+: Number of volumes in the
Supreme Court’s library
• 7: Number of places where the Supreme
Court has held court in Raleigh
• 2.25 percent: The judicial system’s
budget as a percentage of the State’s
General Fund
• $530,000,000: The judicial system’s
budget as funded by the General
Assembly for Fiscal Year 2017–2018
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[PANEL]
Before 1819: A State Without a Supreme
Court
1776–1818
North Carolina has always had courts—but
the State has not always had a Supreme
Court. North Carolina’s Constitution of 1776
declared that “the General Assembly shall . .
. by joint ballot of both houses, appoint
Judges of the Supreme Courts of Law and
Equity” who were to “hold their offices during
good behavior.”
However, no Supreme Court was established
in 1776, and in the decades that followed,
trial judges served on a “Court of
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Conference.” These trial judges reviewed the
decisions of themselves, other trial judges,
and laws passed by the General Assembly.
Beginning in 1810, they were required to
issue written opinions of their decisions and
announce them in open court. For that they
were paid an additional $50 per year.
1818
In November 1818, the General Assembly
created a separate Supreme Court as
contemplated by the 1776 Constitution. The
Supreme Court held its first session in
January 1819. It was composed of a chief
justice and two judges. Their exclusive role
was to review questions of law arising in
cases from the trial courts.
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[IMAGE CAPTION]
In 1818 William Gaston was a state senator
who led the effort to create the Supreme
Court. In 1833 he became a justice on the
Court and served on it until his death in
1844. He wrote North Carolina’s official state
song, “The Old North State.” Gaston County,
Gastonia, and Lake Gaston are named for
him.
Courtesy North Carolina Museum of History
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[PANEL]
Why North Carolina Needed a Supreme
Court
There were many good and urgent reasons to
create the Supreme Court and not rely on
trial judges to serve as part-time appellate
judges.
“[T]he principal remedy for the ills which we
suffer . . . will be found in the establishment
of a Supreme Court, composed of men of
acknowledged ability & integrity, whose
whole attention shall be devoted to the
business of that Court. . . . A court for the
revision of errors will be formed, whose
decisions shall command respect & produce
uniformity.”
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“Every citizen will have it in his power to
rescue his rights from the mistakes of a
single judge, in a moment of improvidence
and haste; and obtain for them a deliberate
and patient re-examination. A co-ordinate
Branch of the government will be raised from
its present degradation to that dignity to
which the theory of our constitution entitles
it. And the Law’s delay, one of the severest
calamities for the trial of individual fortitude,
and one of the most noxious of public evils,
will receive an effectual check.”
—Report, Senate Select Joint Committee,
William Gaston, Chairman, reprinted in the
Raleigh Register and North-Carolina Gazette,
page 1, December 4, 1818
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[IMAGE CAPTION]
In December 1818, the Raleigh Register and
North-Carolina Gazette published on its front
page the entirety of the Senate report
explaining the need for a full-time appellate
court. It included the law enacted by the
General Assembly that created the Supreme
Court.
[PANEL]
THE COURT’S EARLY YEARS
1819: The Court’s First Year
When the North Carolina Supreme Court
began, its members were not elected directly
by the people. Instead, lawmakers in the
General Assembly chose them, and justices
were appointed for life. The first men
selected to serve as justices were John Louis
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Taylor, Leonard Henderson, and John Hall.
Henderson and Hall chose John Louis Taylor
as the first chief justice.
In its first year, the Supreme Court issued
113 opinions involving both criminal and civil
matters. It analyzed the common law
inherited from England and interpreted and
applied North Carolina statutes and the state
constitution.
[IMAGE CAPTION]
Left to right: John Louis Taylor, John Hall,
Leonard Henderson.
Courtesy North Carolina Museum of History
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Criminal Law
In State v. Jim (1819), the Court reversed
the conviction of an enslaved man named Jim
who was sentenced to death for breaking into
a house and stealing a £5 bank note. In State
v. Sparrow (1819), one of the state’s
witnesses was able to listen to the testimony
of the other witnesses, a privilege not given
to any of the defendant’s witnesses. The
Court granted the defendant a new trial on
the murder charge because he was denied
his right to a fair trial under the North
Carolina Constitution.
Civil Law
In the civil case of Dark v. Bagley (1819), the
Court enforced a verbal contract for the sale
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of land. The General Assembly disagreed with
the Dark decision, so in the same year, it
passed a law requiring contracts for the sale
of land to be in writing.
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[PANEL]
How North Carolina Has Changed
1819
In 1819 North Carolina was the fourth largest
state in the United States, with a population
of approximately 638,000. Most people lived
on farms. New Bern was the largest North
Carolina city, with about 3,600 people.
Fayetteville had about 3,500 people. Raleigh
and Wilmington each had a population of
about 2,500.
In 1819 there were 62 counties in North
Carolina, and only nine Superior Court judges
for the entire state.
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In 1819 no paved highways or railroads
existed. It took a lawyer about four days to
travel by horse the 115 miles from New Bern
to Raleigh to argue a case at the Supreme
Court.
[IMAGE CAPTION]
Images, top to bottom: Courtesy NC Maps;
Library of Congress. Bird’s-eye map of New
Bern, 1849.
Courtesy Library of Congress
2019
In 2019 North Carolina is the ninth largest
state in the United States, with a population
greater than 10,000,000. Many of its people
live in and around large cities. The Charlotte
metropolitan area has more than 2,500,000
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people, and the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill
metropolitan area has more than 2,000,000.
North Carolina now has 100 counties. In
2019 there are 107 Superior Court and 272
District Court judges serving the State of
North Carolina.
Today, a lawyer can make the 115-mile trip
from New Bern to Raleigh by car in only two
hours.
[IMAGE CAPTIONS]
Top to bottom: Courtesy Yellow Maps;
Charlotte Skyline, 2019, courtesy Scott
Miskimon
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[PANEL]
Slavery and the Court
The Supreme Court functions in a social,
economic, and historical context that it both
shapes and is constrained by.
Human bondage characterized North
Carolina’s early social and economic fabric. In
the Court’s decisions before the Civil War era
ended, an enslaved person’s status as
property often clashed with considerations of
humanity.
Cases on Slavery
An assault and battery of one enslaved man
produced constrictive judicial reasoning. The
struggle between a judge’s human feelings
and his duty as a magistrate was
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acknowledged. The Court concluded,
however, that “[t]he power of the master
must be absolute to render the submission of
the slave perfect.” State v. Mann (1829).
But there were limits. An enslaved man who
killed his overseer in self-defense was
entitled to raise that defense just as a free
man would be. State v. Will (1834). Nor
could the owner kill the man with impunity.
An enslaved person was “a human being . . .
within the protection of the law.” Therefore,
killing him with malice aforethought was
common-law murder. State v. Reed (1823).
Extended barbarous treatment resulting in
the enslaved person’s death “did not belong
to a state of civilization,” and nothing could
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“palliate such a course.” State v. Hoover
(1839).
[IMAGE CAPTION]
Sarah Gudger was born into slavery in
McDowell County in September 1816, two
years before the Supreme Court was
established. She died on October 19, 1939, in
Buncombe County. This photo was taken of
her in 1937 at age 121. Of the Supreme
Court’s 101 justices, 47 served on the
Supreme Court during her lifetime.
Courtesy Library of Congress
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[PANEL]
Life and Death
Since its start in 1819, the Supreme Court
has always faced the difficult decision:
Should a criminal defendant given a death
sentence at trial be executed? Or should the
defendant receive a new trial or sentencing
hearing due to mistakes when tried,
convicted, and sentenced?
Once a death sentence is appealed, the case
does not go to the North Carolina Court of
Appeals. Instead, all death penalty cases
bypass the Court of Appeals and go directly
to the Supreme Court. If the North Carolina
Supreme Court affirms the conviction and
death sentence, the defendant will usually
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seek to overturn the ruling by going to
federal court.
There are many reasons why the Supreme
Court might reverse a conviction or a death
sentence and require a new trial or new
sentencing hearing. Most of these reasons
involve a mistake that the judge made at
trial. For example, the judge may have
incorrectly allowed certain evidence to be
admitted or may have improperly instructed
the jury about the law.
[IMAGE CAPTION]
In 1990 Michael Sexton murdered Kimberly
Crews in Wake County. In 1994 the Supreme
Court unanimously determined no reversible
error took place during his trial. In November
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2000, protesters marched on the eve of his
execution by lethal injection.
Courtesy Associated Press, photo by Gerry
Broome
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[ARTIFACT]
Shank
Walter Hightower used this knife to kill a
fellow prisoner in a Wilkes County prison
in 1945. In front of 20 other prisoners,
Hightower stabbed him more than six
times. Hightower was found guilty of first-
degree murder. The Supreme Court
affirmed the conviction, finding no error
in the judge’s instructions to the jury.
State v. Hightower (1946). Two weeks
later Hightower was executed in the gas
chamber at Central Prison. The trial
judge, William H. Bobbitt, later served on
the Supreme Court from 1954–1974.
Museum Collection
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[PANEL]
Imposing a Death Sentence
The death penalty itself is not
unconstitutional, but the way a death penalty
case was conducted at trial may violate the
United States or North Carolina Constitution.
For example, the defendant may not have
received effective legal counsel at trial.
Historically, the General Assembly decided
what criminal offenses were capital crimes for
which the defendant could be executed. By
the 1830s there were dozens of capital
crimes, including murder, dueling, arson,
stealing a slave, forgery, bigamy, horse
stealing, and robbery on the highway. Today,
based on rulings from the United States
Supreme Court, the only capital crime that
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could result in a death sentence is first-
degree murder.
Originally, hanging was the method of
execution in North Carolina. In 1910 hanging
was replaced by the electric chair. In 1938
the gas chamber became the only method of
execution. Beginning in 1983, lethal injection
became an option for carrying out a death
sentence, and in 1998 the General Assembly
made injection the exclusive method of
execution.
The last execution in North Carolina occurred
in 2006. Since then, some criminal
defendants convicted of first-degree murder
have received a death sentence, but they
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have appealed their convictions or sentences
and remain on death row.
[IMAGE CAPTION]
The death chamber at Central Prison in
Raleigh (right) is where prisoners are
executed via lethal injection.
Courtesy Associated Press, photo by Gerry
Broome
Previously the gas chamber was used, and
sometimes two prisoners were executed
simultaneously (above).
Courtesy State Archives of North Carolina
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[PANEL]
Home Court
The Supreme Court always has always been
located in Raleigh and close to the State
Capitol on Union Square.
[IMAGES ON MAP]
1. The original courtroom for the Supreme
Court was inside the State Capitol Building
itself. The Court held its sessions there from
1819–1888.
2, 3. When a fire destroyed the State Capitol
Building in 1831, the Court temporarily met
at the First Presbyterian Church and then a
private home in Raleigh, both across from
Union Square.
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4. When a new Capitol building was
completed in 1840, the Court moved into it.
5. In 1888 the Supreme Court moved into a
new building located on West Edenton Street
in Raleigh (now the Labor Building), north of
and immediately across the street from the
Capitol.
6. In 1913 the Supreme Court moved again,
this time into a new building on Morgan
Street, just south of and across the street
from the Capitol. That building now houses
the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
7. In 1940 the Supreme Court moved into its
current location, known as the Justice
Building, which is located at 2 East Morgan
Street in Raleigh. Oral arguments are heard
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in the Supreme Court’s wood-paneled
courtroom on the third floor. Here, attorneys
argue their appeals and answer questions
from the seven justices, all surrounded by
portraits of former chief justices.
The Justice Building was built in 1940 at a
cost of $750,000, paid for with both state
and federal funds. Adjusted for inflation, if
built in 2019, the same building would cost
more than $13 million.
Courtesy State Archives of North Carolina,
Library of Congress, and Scott Miskimon
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[PANEL]
A Court Reformed
The 1776 state constitution authorized a
Supreme Court, but the General Assembly
did not establish one until 1818, effective
January 1, 1819. After the Civil War, reforms
significantly altered the state’s prewar
structure of laws, government, and society.
In 1868 North Carolina adopted a new
constitution that changed the Supreme Court.
It became a true “constitutional court”
created by the state’s fundamental charter
rather than by legislative act. There would
now be five justices rather than three.
Justices would no longer be elected by the
General Assembly for lifetime positions.
Instead, they would be elected by the state’s
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voters for eight-year terms. Finally, the
courts of law and equity would no longer
function as separate entities but rather as a
single merged court system.
[IMAGE CAPTION]
The State Capitol housed the Supreme Court
until 1888. This photo shows the Capitol as it
appeared in the 1880s.
Courtesy State Archives of North Carolina
[IMAGE CAPTION, BOTTOM]
The Supreme Court in an undated photo,
before the justices began to wear robes.
Courtesy State Archives of North Carolina
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[PANEL]
Qualifications to Be a Justice of the
Supreme Court
All judges and justices in North Carolina must
be licensed attorneys and must be under the
age of 72.
Until the 20th century, lawyers often did not
go to a modern type of law school to earn a
law degree. Many justices who served on the
Supreme Court became licensed as attorneys
without first going to a law school, or they
attended but did not graduate.
Before law schools became common, young
people who wanted to be lawyers served as
apprentices and worked in the offices of
licensed attorneys. There they “read the
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law,” learned through self-study, and went to
court to watch lawyers try cases. They would
have to pass a verbal examination, given by
the Supreme Court, to become licensed to
practice law.
In 1979 the General Assembly submitted,
and the voters later approved, a
constitutional amendment requiring all
judges to be licensed attorneys, which
requires first earning a law degree from a law
school.
[IMAGE, TOP]
The newest member of the court, Justice
Mark A. Davis, was appointed by Governor
Roy Cooper and sworn into office in April
2019.
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Courtesy North Carolina Judicial Branch,
photo by Charles Keller.
[IMAGE, MIDDLE]
Early graduates from a modern law school
were (left to right) justices R. Parker Hunt
(University of Virginia, 1915) and Sam J.
Ervin Jr., (Harvard, 1922).
[IMAGE, BOTTOM]
A law license issued by the Supreme Court in
1853.
Courtesy State Archives of North Carolina
44
[ARTIFACT]
Book Awarded for Clark Prize
In the early 20th century, the Supreme
Court examined applicants to become
licensed lawyers and awarded the Clark
prize to the applicant with the best
examination. UNC law school graduate
Ernest Grant Mick of Weaverville won the
Clark prize in 1916 and was awarded this
law book as part of a 15-volume set of
Modern American Law. This book is
signed by Chief Justice Walter Clark.
Loan, Supreme Court Historical Society
45
[PANEL]
Choosing and Retaining Justices
The voters of North Carolina elect justices of
the Supreme Court in partisan elections.
Candidates seeking a seat on the Supreme
Court are identified on the ballot by their
political party, usually Democratic or
Republican, and candidates campaign
statewide to try to win the seat.
Advocates for the current system do not want
it changed because they believe elections
hold the justices accountable to the voters.
North Carolina has used this method to select
its justices since 1868. Only a few other
states choose their highest-level judges
through partisan elections.
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For many years legislators, lawyers, and the
public have debated the merits of our elective
system. The North Carolina Bar Association
has long advocated an appointive or “merit
selection” system. Proposals for changing the
current system include having an
independent panel propose someone to be
appointed by the governor. Advocates for an
appointive system believe it enhances judicial
independence and encourages justices to
make legally correct decisions even if they
would be politically unpopular.
Not all justices first come to the Supreme
Court by winning an election. When a justice
dies, resigns, or retires during a term, he or
she is initially replaced by someone whom
the governor appoints. To remain on the
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Supreme Court, the appointee must then be
elected to the position at the next judicial
election.
[IMAGE]
A sample ballot and a newspaper article
regarding the 1994 election, in which
candidates were seeking to fill two seats on
the Supreme Court.
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[PANEL]
Thomas Ruffin (1787–1870)
As a lawyer, Ruffin was considered at the
head of his profession. Prior to his Supreme
Court service, he was a member of the North
Carolina House of Commons and a Superior
Court judge. In 1829 he became a justice on
the Supreme Court, and he served as chief
justice from 1833 to 1852. He later returned
for brief service on the Court.
Harvard Law School Dean Roscoe Pound
considered Ruffin one of the 10 foremost
American common-law judges. His decisions
not only established North Carolina law; they
were also followed by other southern and
western judges. Ruffin’s decisions in eminent
domain cases—where the state is allowed to
49
seize private property for the public good—
led to the growth of railroads in North
Carolina, which transformed the state.
Courtesy North Carolina Museum of History
William Gaston (1778–1844)
Gaston was a leader among lawyers. He
served in the North Carolina House of
Commons and was its Speaker in 1808. He
also served in the North Carolina Senate and
the United States House of Representatives.
Gaston’s 1818 bill established the state
Supreme Court.
In 1833 the Court was new, unpopular with
the General Assembly, and facing abolition.
Gaston’s membership alone, it was believed,
could save it. He agreed to serve and
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remained on the Court until his death in
1844. Gaston is also known as the author of
the state song, “The Old North State.”
Courtesy North Carolina Museum of History
[IMAGE, BOTTOM]
Elmwood is a house in Raleigh located at 16
North Boylan Avenue. It was built around
1810 by the Court’s first chief justice, John
Louis Taylor, who ran a law school from it. He
willed it to his brother-in-law, Justice William
Gaston, who later rented it to Justice Thomas
Ruffin.
Courtesy Scott Miskimon
51
[PANEL]
Pioneers on the Court
The Supreme Court has always benefited
from the breadth and uniqueness of its
justices’ personal experiences in deciding the
cases that come before it. Over the course of
its history, the Court has shown its
adaptability to changing times through the
justices who bear the distinction of being the
“first” in certain notable categories.
[TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT]
John Louis Taylor (1819–1829): The first
foreign-born immigrant to serve on the
Supreme Court
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William Gaston (1833–1844): The first
Roman Catholic to serve on the Supreme
Court
Susie M. Sharp (1962–1979): The first
woman to serve on the Supreme Court, and
the first woman to serve as chief justice
Daniel K. Moore (1969–1978): The first and
only North Carolina governor to serve on the
Supreme Court
[BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT]
Henry E. Frye (1983–2000): The first African
American to serve on the Supreme Court,
53
and the first African American to serve as
chief justice
Patricia Timmons-Goodson (2006–2012): The
first African American woman to serve on the
Supreme Court
Cheri L. Beasley: (2014–present): The first
African American woman to serve as chief
justice of the Supreme Court
Mark A. Davis: (2019–present): The first
Jewish justice of the Supreme Court
54
Since 1975 the Supreme Court has had four
women chief justices: Susie M. Sharp, Rhoda
B. Billings, Sarah E. Parker, and Cheri L.
Beasley (the current chief justice).
Courtesy State Archives of North Carolina
and North Carolina Judicial Branch
Please turn and continue the exhibit on
the wall behind you that includes the tall
artifact case.
55
[PANEL]
Prominent Supreme Court Justices
Walter Parker Stacy (1884–1951)
At the age of 31, Stacy became a Superior
Court judge. Four years later, he was elected
to the Supreme Court. In 1925, when he was
the Court’s senior associate justice, he
became chief justice. He held that position
for more than 26 years, which is still a
record.
Stacy developed a national reputation as an
arbitrator of industrial disputes. Four
presidents of the United States (Calvin
Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman) requested
his help as an arbitrator, and he settled
numerous controversies between
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management and labor. During World War II,
he was a member of the National Defense
Mediation Board and the War Labor Board.
Stacy also lectured at law schools.
[IMAGE]
Courtesy North Carolina Judicial Branch
Susie Marshall Sharp (1907–1996)
In 1949 Susie Sharp became the first woman
judge in North Carolina. Governor Kerr Scott,
for whom she had served as a county
campaign manager, appointed her. In 1962
she became the first woman justice of the
North Carolina Supreme Court. In 1974 she
was elected as chief justice, making her the
first woman chief justice elected in the United
States. The next year, Time magazine
57
designated her one of 12 “Women of the
Year.”
Sharp’s opinions made significant new law,
including abolishing charitable immunity for
hospitals and limiting sovereign immunity
(which bans lawsuits against the
government). This allowed more people to
recover money damages in lawsuits.
Sharp was considered for an appointment to
the United States Supreme Court. She retired
in 1979, and two years later, President
Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day
O’Connor as the first woman United States
Supreme Court justice.
[IMAGE]
Courtesy North Carolina Judicial Branch
58
[ARTIFACT CASE]
Artifacts, left to right:
Typewriter
When Chief Justice Susie Sharp was a
trial judge, she received this 1952 Royal
manual typewriter as a gift so she could
stay in touch with friends and family
through letters while presiding at trials all
over the state.
Loan, Campbell University Law School
Robe
Chief Justice Susie Sharp wore this robe
during a portion of her 17-year term on
the North Carolina Supreme Court, 1962–
1979.
Loan, Campbell University Law School
59
Quill Pens
In the Court’s earliest years, the justices
handwrote their opinions with quill pens.
Loan, Supreme Court Historical Society
Supreme Court Library Book Bag
In the early 20th century, this book bag
was used to transport heavy law books
from the Supreme Court’s law library to
the Wake County Courthouse via trolley
car down Fayetteville Street.
Loan, Supreme Court Historical Society
60
[PANEL]
Richmond Mumford Pearson (1805–
1878)
Pearson entered public life as a member of
the North Carolina House of Commons.
Pending his election to the Supreme Court in
1849, he won acclaim as a Superior Court
judge. Ten years later, he was named chief
justice upon the death of Frederick Nash.
During the Civil War, Pearson was known for
issuing writs of habeas corpus to men
seeking release from conscripted military
service.
Pearson is best known, however, for the
Richmond Hill law school he operated in
Yadkin County for more than three decades.
He claimed to have instructed more than a
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thousand law students, many of whom
attained distinction in legal and political life.
[IMAGE]
Courtesy North Carolina Museum of History
Walter McKenzie Clark (1846–1924)
Clark is the longest serving member of the
Supreme Court, from 1889 to 1924. He was
chief justice from 1903 to1924 and wrote
3,235 opinions. A progressive, Clark made
the law more humane, especially as it relates
to women and children.
An advocate for “socialized democracy,” Clark
opposed trusts, exposed railroad corruption,
and decried the control over government by
those interests and banks. He was a scholar,
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with a deep interest in North Carolina’s
history, government, and laws. He published
extensively in history and law and annotated
more than 100 volumes of the North Carolina
Reports.
[IMAGE]
Courtesy North Carolina Judicial Branch
Please continue the exhibit on the right-
hand wall of the final hall.
63
[PANEL]
Symbols of the Court
The statue on top of the Justice Building is a
robed figure symbolizing law and
justice. Next to it is an ancient Roman
symbol of judicial power known as a fasces, a
bundle of sticks from which protrudes an ax
blade. The statue was created in the late
1930s by sculptor Charles Bradley Warren of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Carved from
granite quarried in North Carolina, it weighs
12 tons and stands more than 12 feet high.
The seal of the North Carolina Supreme Court
depicts Lady Justice, derived from the Roman
mythological goddess of justice, Justitia. A
similar figure has been used for centuries by
American and British courts to depict the
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ideal of justice. She carries scales and a
spear, which symbolize weighing the
evidence in each case and the power of a
court. Lady Justice is blindfolded to show the
impartiality of the legal system: justice is
blind to the status, wealth, or power of those
who appear in court.
The motto on the seal is the Latin phrase
Suum Cuique Tribuere, which means “To give
each his own.” This conveys the idea that the
Supreme Court is to protect the rights and
property of everyone.
The seal of the Supreme Court is affixed to
the wall in the lobby of the Judicial Building.
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[PANEL]
THE CONSTITUTION AND THE COURT
Many of the cases in the post–World War II
era (1945–present) involve rights and
obligations under the North Carolina
Constitution. The Supreme Court has the
final word on whether an action by North
Carolina’s state, county, or city officials
violates the state constitution.
Unconstitutional actions can occur by the
governor, the General Assembly, state
agencies, schools, or police officers.
“[W]e remain the ultimate arbiters of our
state’s constitution, and vigorously attend to
our duty of protecting the citizenry from
abridgments and infringements of its
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provisions. . . .” Hoke County v. State
(2004).
In the modern era, the General Assembly has
passed sweeping laws affecting many fields
of life, from crime and punishment to how
businesses operate. The General Assembly
also delegates power to state agencies to
make regulations. The Supreme Court then
decides many criminal and civil cases based
on its interpretation of these statutes and
regulations, often confronting the question of
whether they are constitutional.
In the past 75 years, the Supreme Court has
decided many cases involving civil rights,
public education, environmental protection,
and the proper exercise of power by the
67
executive, legislative, and judicial branches
of government.
[IMAGE]
Governor Terry Sanford before a joint session
of the General Assembly in June 1961.
[IMAGE, INSET]
Protestor with his flag and Bible being
arrested during a Ku Klux Klan march in
Greensboro in June 1987.
Courtesy Associated Press, Bob Jordan
68
[PANEL]
Civil or Constitutional Rights
As in the slavery cases, the Court’s decisions
in racial discrimination cases have arisen
within a specific historical context.
State v. Clyburn (1958)
Prior to the 1960 “sit in” cases, African
American citizens requested service in the
“white” section of a Durham business. They
were denied service and refused to leave.
The Court upheld their convictions for
trespassing. The Court stated that “[t]he
owner-operator’s refusal to serve defendants,
except in the portion of the building
designated by him, impaired no rights of the
defendants.” State v. Clyburn (1958).
69
[IMAGE]
Civil rights protestors at a sit-in at the
Woolworth’s lunch counter in Durham in
February 1960.
Courtesy The News & Observer of Raleigh
State v. Cofield (1987)
The 1971 state constitution prohibited
“discrimination by the state because of race
[or] color,” including when serving on a jury.
The Supreme Court enforced this
constitutional ban on racism in the justice
system.
The Court stated, “The people of North
Carolina have declared . . . that they will not
tolerate the corruption of their juries by
70
racism.” Racial exclusion from jury service
“impairs the confidence of the public in the
administration of justice.” The Court viewed
such racism as harmful to both the accused
and “to society as a whole.” State v. Cofield
(1987).
[IMAGE]
Courtesy The News & Observer of Raleigh
71
[PANEL]
The Court and Public Education
The Supreme Court has ruled that the state
constitution guarantees every child in North
Carolina an opportunity to receive a “sound
basic education.” Leandro v. State (1997).
Leandro v. State (1997)
Leandro was a landmark case, and the
Supreme Court followed it in later cases. In
one case, the court ruled that the state failed
to meet its constitutional duties in the way
the state spent money for education. The
Court then compelled the state to remedy
this problem. Hoke County Board of
Education v. State (2004).
72
Under Leandro a sound basic education
comprises many things, including a sufficient
• ability to read, write, and speak English
• knowledge of fundamental mathematics
and physical science to enable the
student to function in a complex and
rapidly changing society
• fundamental knowledge of geography,
history, and basic economic and political
systems
• academic and vocational skill to let a
student successfully compete on an equal
basis with others in further formal
education or gainful employment in
contemporary society
73
Hutchins v. Durham (1904)
The right to a free public education is subject
to reasonable regulations. These regulations
allow schools to protect the morals and
health of the students and enforce discipline
by expelling disorderly students. Hutchins v.
Durham (1904).
The courts and a governor’s commission
continue to define and refine the
constitutional guarantee of “a sound basic
education.”
[IMAGE]
A 1955 photo of a boy living in a Raleigh
neighborhood known as Southside.
Courtesy The News & Observer of Raleigh
74
[PANEL]
The Court and Environmental Protection
The Supreme Court has protected North
Carolina’s natural environment long before
the modern environmental protection
movement began in the 1960s and 1970s. In
the Court’s first hundred years, cases came
before it regarding challenges to laws that
the General Assembly passed in the 19th and
early 20th centuries.
The Court’s early cases principally involved
the constitutionality of state laws protecting
rivers and streams, and drinking water for
local communities, from human sewage or
pollution caused by factories or logging. For
example, in City of Durham v. Eno Cotton
Mills (1906) and State v. Perley (1917), the
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Court ruled that the statutes were
constitutional and a proper exercise of the
state’s police power to regulate public health.
A guiding principle for the Court is the legal
maxim Salus populi suprema lex—“the safety
of the people is the highest law.”
[IMAGE]
Courtesy Scott Miskimon
In the modern era, the Supreme Court ruled
that, if the state’s Coastal Area Management
Act is violated and wetlands are dredged or
filled in without prior approval, the private
landowner is not entitled to a jury trial. He or
she can also be compelled to completely
restore the wetlands to their pre-violation
76
condition. State v. Simpson (1990) and
(1992).
The Supreme Court has decided cases
controlling lawsuits that challenge the
selection of sites for disposing of hazardous
waste and low-level radioactive waste.
Granville County v. North Carolina Hazardous
Waste Management Commission (1991);
Richmond County v. Low-Level Radioactive
Waste Management Authority (1993). The
Court has also ruled that more stringent
regulations unique to aircraft-based
applicators of pesticides do not violate the
constitution’s equal protection clause. In re
North Carolina Pesticide Board (1998).
[LARGE IMAGE]
Courtesy David Oppenheimer
77
[PANEL]
Judicial Review
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the
judicial branch of state government. The
state constitution gives it powers
independent of the executive and legislative
branches. A fundamental part of the Court’s
work is deciding whether a statute passed by
the General Assembly is constitutional. This
is called “judicial review.”
When a statute is challenged as
unconstitutional, the Supreme Court closely
analyzes the language of the statute and the
constitution, the purposes of both, and prior
decisions of the Supreme Court and other
courts. Depending on these factors, the
statute may be upheld or struck down. When
78
engaged in judicial review, the Court
presumes that the statute is constitutional.
The Court will invalidate a statute only if it
violates the constitution beyond a reasonable
doubt.
Bayard v. Singleton (1787)
North Carolina’s judiciary pioneered the use
of judicial review. Bayard v. Singleton
(1787). This case was decided 16 years
before the United States Supreme Court first
endorsed the doctrine of judicial review.
Marbury v. Madison (1803).
Bayard v. Singleton grew out of the American
Revolution and the postwar confiscation of
property owned by North Carolina loyalists
who had supported Britain. William
79
Richardson Davie fought on the patriot side in
the Revolution, but as a lawyer he argued
that a statute confiscating loyalist property
without a jury trial violated the state
constitution. Davie’s political enemies had
him criminally indicted for making this
argument in court. The indictment was
quashed, and Davie won the case. Later he
became a founder of the University of North
Carolina, and then governor.
[IMAGE, PORTRAIT]
Portrait courtesy University of North Carolina,
Wilson Special Collections Library.
[IMAGE, MURAL]
This mural depicts William Richardson Davie’s
argument to the Superior Court judges in
80
Bayard v. Singleton. Painted in 1938 by
David J. Silvette, the mural is in the
courtroom of the federal courthouse in New
Bern.
Courtesy Eric Blevins
81
[PANEL]
The Supreme Court and the General
Assembly
The General Assembly and the Supreme
Court each play a role in developing the law.
Sometimes one branch of government
overrides the other in the exercise of its
constitutional power.
Under the doctrine of judicial review, the
Supreme Court has the final say on whether
a law passed by the General Assembly is
constitutional under the North Carolina
Constitution. The Court has exercised this
power to strike down numerous statutes
because of their unconstitutionality.
82
For example, a state law giving a property
tax exemption to a religious organization
operating an assisted living facility for the
elderly violated the state and federal
constitutions’ clauses that prohibit the
establishment of religion. In re Springmoor
(1998). A statute setting a below-market
interest rate that the State was to pay when
it condemned privately owned land was
unconstitutional because it did not give the
landowner just compensation. Lea Company
v. North Carolina Board of Transportation
(1986).
Sometimes the Court decides a case by
developing a new rule based on the facts,
human experience, logic, and what seems
reasonable under the circumstances.
83
Judicially created rules make up the
“common law.” The General Assembly has
not always accepted new common-law rules
and has sometimes passed new laws in order
to change or repeal certain rules created
through court decisions.
For example, the General Assembly has
overturned common-law rules through
statutes that: control the amount of punitive
damages that can be recovered in a civil
lawsuit; impose time limits for filing a lawsuit
over a defective and unsafe product; and
require contracts for the sale of land to be in
writing.
84
[IMAGE, TOP]
The North Carolina General Assembly, 1993.
Courtesy North Carolina Museum of History
[IMAGE, BOTTOM]
The North Carolina General Assembly building
in Raleigh in 2019.
Courtesy Steve Elizondo
85
TECHNOLOGY AND THE SUPREME
COURT: FROM QUILL PENS TO
COMPUTERS
[PANEL]
Constitutional Separation of Powers
The North Carolina Constitution makes the
judicial branch a coequal branch of state
government, along with the executive
branch, headed by the governor, and the
legislative branch, in the form of the General
Assembly. When there are legal disputes
between the General Assembly and the
governor over their powers, the Supreme
Court resolves those disputes.
The state constitution establishes three
branches of government. Each has separate
86
and distinct powers that are exclusive to that
branch. This is known as the “separation of
powers.” To protect the liberties of the
people, the powers of the three branches of
government are kept separate so that no one
branch becomes too powerful, and each
branch limits the powers of the other two
branches. This constitutional protection is
violated when one branch exercises a power
that exclusively belongs to another branch.
[IMAGE]
The North Carolina Constitution declares that
“[t]he legislative, executive, and supreme
judicial powers of the State government shall
be forever separate and distinct from each
other.”
87
Courtesy University of North Carolina, Wilson
Special Collections Library
Cooper v. Berger (2018)
In North Carolina the General Assembly
creates certain executive positions to oversee
state agencies, and the governor nominates
persons to fill those positions. In Cooper v.
Berger (December 2018), the governor filed
a lawsuit against the leaders of the General
Assembly, challenging a statute that gave the
state senate the right to confirm members of
the governor’s cabinet. The Supreme Court
ruled that the statute did not violate the
constitution’s requirement for separation of
powers.
88
The Court’s decision in Cooper was based in
part on the Court’s power to determine
whether a statute is constitutional, a judicial
power recognized by North Carolina’s
judiciary in 1787 in Bayard v. Singleton.
[IMAGES, BOTTOM]
Governor Roy Cooper
Courtesy Associated Press
Left to right: Speaker of the House Time
Moore, and Senate President Pro Tem Phil
Berger
Courtesy Associated Press
State v. Bone (1982)
In State v. Bone (1982), the General
Assembly passed a law that required some of
89
the members of an executive agency to be
members of the General Assembly. The Court
ruled that the law was unconstitutional.
Because the law would allow legislators to
wield executive power, the statute violated
the constitution’s separation of powers
clause.
90
[PANEL]
Law and Society Transformed by
Technology
In the Court’s earliest years, most civil cases
dealt with disputes over title to land or
inheriting property through a will. But as the
Industrial Revolution transformed North
Carolina from farmlands to factories,
technology changed—and so did the types of
civil cases decided by the Court and the kind
of evidence that was admissible in court.
19th Century
In 1837 the Court decided its first case
involving a railroad and the right of eminent
domain to take private land for its
construction. Raleigh and Gaston Rail Road
Company v. Davis. In 1854 the Court dealt
91
for the first time with a telegram, where the
plaintiff claimed it contained words that
slandered him. Banks v. Richardson.
In 1890 a telegraph company was held
responsible for causing mental anguish for
negligently failing to deliver a telegram
regarding the dangerous illness of a spouse.
Young v. Western Union Telegraph Company.
The first case dealing with the legal
significance of a conversation conducted
using a telephone was in 1895. State v.
Wernwag.
20th Century
New means of transportation created many
cases involving personal injuries, a trend that
started at the beginning of the 20th century.
92
In 1908 the Court decided its first case
involving injuries blamed on the use of a
motorcycle. Long v. Warlick. In 1910 the
Court decided for the first time issues
regarding injuries caused by the negligent
use of an automobile. Tudor v. Bowen.
93
[PANEL]
The Court in the Computer Age
The prevalence of computer technology today
is reflected in a number of the Court’s
decisions, including a criminal case involving
digital manipulation of photographs. State v.
Fletcher (2017). In another case an
employee was denied unemployment benefits
because she improperly claimed the
copyright in her employer’s website. Binney
v. Banner Therapy Products Inc. (2008).
The Court often decides cases at the
crossroads of computers and the state
constitution. A statute banning cyberbullying
was ruled an unconstitutional violation of free
speech. State v. Bishop (2016). A city’s
extremely high tax on internet cafés offering
94
cyber gaming was unconstitutional as an
“unjust and inequitable tax.” IMT Inc. v. City
of Lumberton (2013). A statute banning
sweepstakes games displayed on a computer
or video screen was constitutional. Hest
Technologies Inc. v. State (2012).
Throughout its history, the Court has adopted
new technologies as part of its administration
of justice. Attorneys file briefs and motions
with the Court through the internet. Supreme
Court opinions are posted on the Court’s
website as soon as they are issued. This
allows lawyers and the public to see opinions
long before they are published in a
hardbound official court reporter.
95
On May 29, 2019, as part of its bicentennial
celebration, the Supreme Court returned to
its original home in the State Capitol Building
and held oral argument in the old Senate
chamber. Oral arguments were livestreamed
via Facebook.
96
[PANEL]
Admissible Evidence?
The heart of a trial is the evidence presented
to a jury. Evidence can be in the form of
witness testimony; documents like a will,
contract, letter, or email; or physical items
like a murder weapon or bloodstains.
Technologies that are familiar to us today
were once cutting edge or even
revolutionary. The Supreme Court must
decide whether a new technology is reliable
enough to be used as evidence at a trial. This
often happens when an expert gives an
opinion in court based on a device or a
scientific method used by the expert.
97
Some noteworthy Supreme Court decisions
regarding new technologies and scientific
methods include the following:
• Ballistics, where a bullet’s markings
determine its source: State v.
Outerbridge (1880) (admissible)
• Matching a typed document to a
particular typewriter: Coleman v.
Hedgepeth (1922) (admissible)
• Fingerprinting: State v. Combs (1931)
(admissible)
• Photograph of a victim in a murder case:
State v. Cade (1939) (admissible)
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• Blood-alcohol testing to prove
intoxication: State v. Moore (1956)
(admissible).
• Lie detector: State v. Foye (1961) (not
admissible)
• DNA: State v. Pennington (1990)
(admissible)
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Acknowledgments
This exhibit was produced by staff at the
North Carolina Museum of History in
collaboration with the Supreme Court of
North Carolina.
The museum gratefully acknowledges the
support and contributions of the following
individuals and institutions:
North Caroliniana Society (In Memory of Dr. H. G. Jones)
Smith Anderson Law Firm
The North Carolina Supreme Court Historical Society
North Carolina Legal History Inc.
Justice Willis Whichard
Scott Miskimon, Curator
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