Authors Celebrate 50 Years of N.C. District Courts

North Carolina marks the 50th anniversary of its District Court system this year with celebrations around the state. To help commemorate the five decades of District Courts and the state’s unified courts system, N.C. Bar Association Vice President James W. Narron and legal intern John R. Hess, an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have compiled a history of judicial reform in our state. An abridged version of this article appears in the November 2016 edition of North Carolina Lawyer managazine. Hess has also completed a history of the Courts of Johnston County and the 11th District.

The work is dedicated to “the attorneys, jurists, and political figures who risked their reputations and careers on the prospect of reform over fifty years ago” and provides a deep look at the political and cultural forces that helped shape the state’s court system, beginning with its roots in English law.