Thelaw ofNorth Carolina consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory, case law, and local law.
TheConstitution of North Carolina is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by theGeneral Assembly, published in theNorth Carolina Session Laws, and codified in theNorth Carolina General Statutes. State agency regulations (sometimes called administrative law) are published in theNorth Carolina Register and codified in theNorth Carolina Administrative Code. North Carolina's legal system is based oncommon law, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, which are published in theNorth Carolina Reports andNorth Carolina Court of Appeals Reports, respectively. Counties, cities, towns, and villages may also promulgatelocal ordinances.
North Carolina has had three constitutions, adopted in 1776, 1868, and 1971, respectively. Like the federal constitution does for the federal government, the North Carolina Constitution both provides for the structure of the North Carolina government and enumerates rights which the North Carolina government may not infringe.[1]
Because "[t]the North Carolina Constitution expresses the will of the people of [the] State," it is "the supreme law of the land."[2] "If there is a conflict between" a state statute and the North Carolina Constitution, the constitution controls because it "is the superior rule of law in that situation."[3] TheSupreme Court of North Carolina has the “power and . . . duty to determine whether challenged acts of the General Assembly violate the constitution,”[4] by “constru[ing] and appl[ying] the provisions of” that document “with finality.” To determine whether a statute violates the North Carolina Constitution, a court looks to the text and “historical context” of the “applicable constitutional provision” and subsequent court decisions interpreting that text and history. Laws passed by the General Assembly are presumptively constitutional and will be held unconstitutional only when “the constitutional violation is plain and clear.”[5]
Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgatedregulations, also known asadministrative law. TheNorth Carolina Register includes information about state agency rules, administrative rules, executive orders and other notices, and is published bimonthly.[6] TheState of North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC) contains all the rules adopted by the state agencies and occupational licensing boards in North Carolina.[6] Both are compiled and published by the Rules Division of the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings.[7]
The legal system of North Carolina is based on thecommon law. Like all U.S. states exceptLouisiana, North Carolina has areception statute providing for the "reception" ofEnglish law. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject tojudicial review. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of North Carolina have developed a large body ofcase law through thedecisions of theNorth Carolina Supreme Court andNorth Carolina Court of Appeals.
The decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are published in theNorth Carolina Reports andNorth Carolina Court of Appeals Reports, respectively.[8] Opinions are first published online on filing day as slip opinions, and may be withdrawn or corrected until the mandate issues 20 days later.[8] Slip opinions are then printed with headnotes and other finding aids in soft-bound books called Advance Sheets and online, and are given citations to the official reports. Advance sheets are then compiled and printed in the hard-bound volumes of theNorth Carolina Reports andNorth Carolina Court of Appeals Reports, respectively.[8] Trial court opinions are often neither written nor published.[9]
Local governments are created by acts of the General Assembly, which define their boundaries and approve their charters.[10] These charters can be changed by legislative action or, in certain cases, byhome rule amendments adopted by the local governments.[10] Local government charters and legislative amendments can be found in theNorth Carolina Session Laws, and all home rule changes must be filed with the Secretary of State and the Legislative Library.[10]
Court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of theHarvard Law Library
