The North Carolina State Constitution

by Orth, John V.

• ISBN13: 9780199779161
• ISBN10: 0199779163
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

North Carolina's state constitution charts the evolution over two centuries of a modern representative democracy. InThe North Carolina State Constitution, John V. Orth provides an outstanding constitutional and historical account of the state's governing charter. In addition to an overview of North Carolina's constitutional history, it provides an in-depth, section-by-section analysis of the entire constitution, detailing the many significant changes that have been made since its initial drafting. This treatment, along with a table of cases, index, and bibliography provides an unsurpassed reference guide for students, scholars, and practitioners of North Carolina's constitution. The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United Statesis an important new series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historical overview of the state's constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research. Under the expert editorship of Professor G. Alan Tarr, Director of the Center on State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a complete set, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.

Author Biography

John V. Orth is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of numerous law review articles and books, including The Judicial Power of the United States: The Eleventh Amendment in American History (Oxford University Press).

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xv
The History of the North Carolina Constitution
The Constitution of 1776	p. 4
The Constitution of 1868	p. 18
The Constitution of 1971	p. 32
The North Carolina Constitution and Commentary
Preamble	p. 41
Declaration of Rights	p. 43
The equality and rights of persons	p. 44
Sovereignty of the people	p. 45
Internal government of the State	p. 45
Secession prohibited	p. 46
Allegiance to the United States	p. 47
Separation of powers	p. 48
Suspending laws	p. 50
Representation and taxation	p. 51
Frequent elections	p. 52
Free elections	p. 52
Property qualifications	p. 54
Right of assembly and petition	p. 54
Religious liberty	p. 56
Freedom of speech and press	p. 57
Education	p. 58
Ex post facto laws	p. 59
Slavery and involuntary servitude	p. 60
Courts shall be open	p. 60
Law of the land; equal protection of the laws	p. 62
General warrants	p. 67
Inquiry into restraints on liberty	p. 68
Modes of prosecution	p. 69
Rights of accused	p. 70
Right of jury trial in criminal cases	p. 73
Right of jury trial in civil cases	p. 75
Jury service	p. 76
Bail, fines, and punishments	p. 77
Imprisonment for debt	p. 78
Treason against the State	p. 79
Militia and the right to bear arms	p. 80
Quartering of soldiers	p. 81
Exclusive emoluments	p. 82
Hereditary emoluments and honors	p. 82
Perpetuities and monopolies	p. 83
Recurrence to fundamental principles	p. 84
Other rights of the people	p. 84
Legislative	p. 87
Legislative power	p. 87
Number of Senators	p. 88
Senate districts; apportionment of Senators	p. 88
Number of Representatives	p. 89
Representative districts; apportionment of Representatives	p. 89
Qualifications for Senator	p. 90
Qualifications for Representative	p. 90
Elections	p. 91
Term of office	p. 91
Vacancies	p. 91
Sessions	p. 91
Oath of members	p. 92
President of the Senate	p. 93
Other officers of the Senate	p. 93
Officers of the House of Representatives	p. 94
Compensation and allowances	p. 94
Journals	p. 94
Protests	p. 94
Record votes	p. 95
Powers of the General Assembly	p. 95
Style of the acts	p. 95
Action on bills	p. 96
Revenue bills	p. 96
Limitations on local, private, and special legislation	p. 98
Executive	p. 101
Executive power	p. 101
Governor and Lieutenant Governor: election, term, and qualifications	p. 101
Succession to office of Governor	p. 102
Oath of office for Governor	p. 104
Duties of Governor	p. 104
Duties of the Lieutenant Governor	p. 109
Other elective officers	p. 109
Council of State	p. 111
Compensation and allowances	p. 111
Seal of State	p. 112
Administrative departments	p. 112
Judicial	p. 113
Judicial power	p. 113
General Court of Justice	p. 114
Judicial powers of administrative agencies	p. 114
Court for the Trial of Impeachments	p. 115
Appellate division	p. 116
Supreme Court	p. 116
Court of Appeals	p. 117
Retirement of Justices and Judges	p. 117
Superior Courts	p. 118
District Courts	p. 119
Assignment of Judges	p. 120
Jurisdiction of the General Court of Justice	p. 120
Forms of action; rules of procedure	p. 122
Waiver of jury trial	p. 123
Administration	p. 123
Terms of office and election of Justices of the Supreme Court, Judges of the Court of Appeals, and Judges of the Superior Court	p. 123
Removal of Judges, Magistrates and Clerks	p. 124
District Attorney and Prosecutorial Districts	p. 126
Vacancies	p. 126
Revenues and expenses of the judicial department	p. 127
Fees, salaries and emoluments	p. 127
Qualification of justices and Judges	p. 128
Finance	p. 129
No capitation tax to be levied	p. 129
State and local taxation	p. 130
Limitations upon the increase of State debt	p. 132
Limitations upon the increase of local government debt	p. 135
Acts levying taxes to state objects	p. 136
Inviolability of sinking funds and retirement funds	p. 136
Drawing public money	p. 137
Health care facilities	p. 137
Capital projects for industry	p. 138
Joint ownership of generation and transmission facilities	p. 139
Capital projects for agriculture	p. 140
Higher Education Facilities	p. 140
Seaport and airport facilities	p. 141
Suffrage and Eligibility to Office	p. 143
Who may vote	p. 143
Qualifications of voter	p. 144
Registration	p. 145
Qualification for registration	p. 145
Elections by people and General Assembly	p. 146
Eligibility to elective office	p. 146
Oath	p. 146
Disqualifications for office	p. 147
Dual office holding	p. 148
Continuation in office	p. 149
Local Government	p. 151
General Assembly to provide for local government	p. 151
Sheriffs	p. 152
Merged or consolidated counties	p. 152
Corporations	p. 153
Corporate charters	p. 153
Corporations defined	p. 154
Education	p. 155
Education encouraged	p. 155
Uniform system of schools	p. 155
School attendance	p. 157
State Board of Education	p. 157
Powers and duties of Board	p. 157
State school fund	p. 158
County school fund	p. 158
Higher education	p. 159
Benefits of public institutions of higher education	p. 159
Escheats	p. 160
Homesteads and Exemptions	p. 161
Personal property exemptions	p. 161
Homestead exemptions	p. 163
Mechanics' and laborers' liens	p. 165
Property of married women secured to them	p. 165
Insurance	p. 166
Punishments, Corrections, and Charities	p. 169
Punishments	p. 169
Death punishment	p. 170
Charitable and correctional institutions and agencies	p. 170
Welfare policy; board of public welfare	p. 171
Military Forces	p. 173
Governor is Commander in Chief	p. 173
Conventions; Constitutional Amendment and Revision	p. 175
Convention of the People	p. 175
Power to revise or amend Constitution reserved to people	p. 177
Revision or amendment by Convention of the People	p. 177
Revision or amendment by legislative initiation	p. 177
Miscellaneous	p. 179
Seat of government	p. 179
State boundaries	p. 179
General laws defined	p. 180
Continuity of laws; protection of office holders	p. 181
Conservation of natural resources	p. 182
Bibliographical Essay	p. 183
Table of Cases	p. 191
Index	p. 199
About the Author	p. 205
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