State ex rel. Rhodes v. Simpson

PHILLIPS, Judge.

Though the State’s appeal is from an interlocutory order, it is authorized since the right not to have a case tried by a jury is a substantial right, no less than is the right to a jury trial. Fair-cloth v. Beard, 320 N.C. 505, 358 S.E. 2d 512 (1987). The only question it presents is whether the following guarantee:

In all controversies at law respecting property, the ancient mode of trial by jury is one of the best securities of the rights of the people, and shall remain sacred and inviolable.

contained in Section 25 of Article I of the North Carolina Constitution applies to…