§ 7A-41.1. District and set of districts defined; senior resident superior court judges and their authority.
§ 7A‑41.1. District and set of districtsdefined; senior resident superior court judges and their authority.
(a) In this section and in any other law which refers to thissection:
(1) "District" means any superior court districtestablished by G.S. 7A‑41 which consists exclusively of one or moreentire counties;
(2) "Set of districts" means any set of two or moresuperior court districts established under G.S. 7A‑41, none of whichconsists exclusively of one or more entire counties, but both or all of whichinclude territory from the same county or counties and together comprise all ofthe territory of that county or those counties;
(3) "Regular resident superior court judge of the districtor set of districts" means a regular superior court judge who is a residentjudge of any of the superior court districts established under G.S. 7A‑41which comprise or are included in a district or set of districts as definedherein.
(b) There shall be one and only one senior resident superiorcourt judge for each district or set of districts as defined in subsection (a)of this section, who shall be:
(1) Where there is only one regular resident superior courtjudge for the district, that judge; and
(2) Where there are two or more regular resident superior courtjudges for the district or set of districts, the judge who, from among all theregular resident superior court judges of the district or set of districts, hasthe most continuous service as a regular resident superior court judge;provided if two or more judges are of equal seniority, the oldest of thosejudges shall be the senior regular resident superior court judge.
(c) Senior resident superior court judges and regular residentsuperior court judges possess equal judicial jurisdiction, power, authority andstatus, but all duties placed by the Constitution or statutes on the residentjudge of a superior court district, including the appointment to and removalfrom office, which are not related to a case, controversy or judicialproceeding and which do not involve the exercise of judicial power, shall bedischarged, throughout a district as defined in subsection (a) of this sectionor throughout all of the districts comprising a set of districts so defined,for each county in that district or set of districts, by the senior residentsuperior court judge for that district or set of districts. That seniorresident superior court judge alone among the superior court judges of thatdistrict or set of districts shall receive the salary and benefits of a seniorresident superior court judge.
(d) A senior resident superior court judge for a district or setof districts as defined in subsection (a) of this section with two or moreregular resident superior court judges, by notice in writing to theAdministrative Officer of the Courts, may decline to exercise the authorityvested in him by this section, in which event such authority shall be exercisedby the regular resident superior court judge who, among the other regularresident superior court judges of the district or set of districts, is nextsenior in point of service or age, respectively.
(e) In the event a senior resident superior court judge for adistrict or set of districts with one or more regular resident superior courtjudges is unable, due to mental or physical incapacity, to exercise theauthority vested in him by the statute, and the Chief Justice, in hisdiscretion, has determined that such incapacity exists, the Chief Justice shallappoint an acting senior regular resident superior court judge from the other regularresident judges of the district or set of districts, to exercise, temporarily,the authority of the senior regular resident judge. Such appointee shall serveat the pleasure of the Chief Justice and until his temporary appointment isvacated by appropriate order. (1987 (Reg. Sess.,1988), c. 1037, s. 2.)