The North Carolina rule stack
Nine layers of authority, resolved in order for a North Carolina matter. Ranking orders retrieval — it does not decide a conflict; where a lower layer contradicts a higher one, both texts are surfaced for a reasoned disposition.
- 1
Federal constitutional / statutory (when applicable)
Supremacy where a federal question or preemption is genuinely in play; the EDNC/MDNC/WDNC local rules + CA4 govern the federal rim.
- 2
North Carolina Constitution
Art. I (open courts § 18, civil jury § 25, law of the land § 19) and Art. IV (the unified General Court of Justice) sit above statute and rule.
- 3
Session law + the General Statutes — INCLUDING the civil rules
NC's wrinkle: the Rules of Civil Procedure and Evidence are legislatively enacted (Ch. 1A / Ch. 8C) — they carry statute rank, and session-law amendments (with effective-dating pairs like § 58-33-85's) are how they move.
- 4
Supreme Court-promulgated rules
The Rules of Appellate Procedure (the codified 2 Sept 2025 book, loaded) — plus the General Rules of Practice, honestly flagged as not yet in the corpus.
- 5
Specialty regimes
The Business Court's case-management regime rides its § 7A-45.4 designation; the magistrate small-claims lane runs the Chapter 42 machine.
- 6
Administrative rules (NCAC)
Agency rules with adjudicative effect (the 150B APA is loaded; the NCAC volumes are flagged, not yet loaded).
- 7
Local rules (the nccourts.gov catalog)
301 rule documents live from the 1,220-doc catalog — and unlike Texas RJA-10, NC has NO posted-or-not-effective statute: absence from the catalog is not absence of practice.
- 8
Judge + district procedures
Court- and judge-specific practices, confidence + last-verified — a real constraint, never flattened into law.
- 9
Case orders + party stipulations
The discovery plan under Rule 26(f), the scheduling order, and the parties' agreements where the law permits.