Superior Court of North Carolina, 1791

Smith v. Smith

Superior Court of North Carolina · Decided July 5, 1791 · WILLIAMS, J., and SPENCER, J., who delivered their opinions first, concluding with saying that they would not alter the law which had been so long established, and therefore there was judgment for the petitioner.

1 N.C. 30

Counsel

(31) Iredell , for the petition, insisted, on the authority of many cases he produced, to show that all the acts of the British Parliament take effect as laws from the first day of the session, and therefore sic hic . Johnston , for the defendant, in answer, relied on the words and spirit of the Constitution, [fn*] that the signing of the Speakers is necessary to give the act the sanction of a law. [fn*] Sec. XI.

Opinion of the Court

But ASHE, J., concurred in the opinion of Johnston.

NOTE. — See, accordingly, Summer v. Barksdale, post, 328, but it is now provided, since the Act of 1799 (1 Rev. Stat., ch. 52, sec. 36), that the acts of the General Assembly shall be in force only from and after thirty days after the termination of the session in which they are passed, and not before, unless otherwise expressly directed in the acts themselves.

Cited: Hamlet v. Taylor, 50 N.C. 38.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.