City of Burlington v. Town of Elon College

BRANCH, Chief Justice.

The sole issue presented in this case is whether the trial court erred in concluding that the Town of Elon College prevailed in its annexation of the areas which had been included in the City of Burlington’s proposed annexation plan. This issue relies, in turn, on the applicability of the “prior jurisdiction” rule to this dispute.

The doctrine of prior jurisdiction is discussed in 2 McQuillin, Municipal Corporations § 7.22a (3d ed. 1966), which reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

The rule that among separate equivalent proceedings relating to the same subject matter,…