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The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the highest court in the state of Mississippi. It was established in 1818 per the terms of the first constitution of the state and was known as the High Court of Errors and Appeals from 1832 to 1869. The court is an appellate court. The court consists of nine justices elected in nonpartisan contests from three districts to serve eight-year terms. The most senior justice serves as the chief justice. It is housed in the Carroll Gartin Justice Building in Jackson, Mississippi, the state capital. The state constitution grants the Supreme Court broad jurisdiction to review cases that raise questions of law. It only has original jurisdiction over legal cases arising from actions taken by the Mississippi Public Service Commission to alter utility rates and in investigating instances of judicial misconduct. State law gives the Supreme Court direct appellate jurisdiction over cases involving capital punishment, municipal annexation, bond issues, election disputes, judicial disciplinary affairs, certified questions from federal courts, and laws found unconstitutional in lower courts. All appeals of state trial court rulings concerning other matters are initially brought before the Supreme Court, which can then assign them to the Mississippi Court of Appeals at its discretion. The court's members are divided into "divisions" of three justices each, and most cases are heard and ruled upon only by one division. The justices sit en banc to review split-decisions from a division—at the dissenting justice's request—and to hear cases involving capital punishment, utility rates, constitutional matters of first impression, and issues deemed to likely have a significant impact on the public. History The Mississippi Territory was established by United States federal law in 1798. Its court system evolved over time to eventually include a supreme court. Mississippi became a U.S. state in 1817, and its judiciary was established in the state's constitution. Under its first constitutional construction, the Supreme Court was composed of judges to be elected by the Mississippi Legislature. The judges spent most of their time presiding over state superior courts, but would convene together twice a year in Natchez to consider appeals from the superior courts. The legislature appointed the first Supreme Court on January 21, 1818. The state's constitution of 1832 provided for the court, renamed the High Court of Errors and Appeals, to have three popularly-elected judges serving six-year terms. In 1839, three constituencies, known as the northern, central, and southern districts, were created for the justices. They changed little over the ensuing decades. During the Antebellum era, the court's docket was dominated by cases involving land, banks, bonds, railroads, and slavery. In 1836, the constitution was amended to require the court to convene in Jackson. Three years later a state capitol building was completed, and the court moved its sittings to a dedicated courtroom within the structure. The court's workflow was interrupted by the American Civil War. As a result of the conflict, Mississippi came under federal military occupation. In 1866, the court ruled in Ex parte Lewis that the federal Civil Rights Act of 1866 was unconstitutional. With the federal military commander in the state choosing to ignore the decision and Mississippi citizens being placed before military tribunals, in 1867, all justices of the court resigned to protest military rule. The court was then filled by the commander's appointees, who served for another two years. Years later, the court ruled all decisions made by the military appointees legally invalid. The High Court of Errors and Appeals was abolished by the state's 1869 constitution and replaced with a new "Supreme Court of Mississippi", with the judges to be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Mississippi Senate. The constitution also required that one justice each was to be a resident of one of the districts, serving staggered nine-year terms. During the Reconstruction era, the court was primarily occupied with cases concerning the aftermath of the Civil War—including war debts—and the regulation of large corporations. The provisions of the constitution of 1869 regarding the court were largely repeated in the constitution of 1890. The new document prescribed the popular statewide election of the body's clerk. In 1898, the legislature passed a resolution to amend the constitution to provide for the popular election of all judges in the state, including the Supreme Court justices. The amendment was ratified by wide margin in a 1899 statewide referendum but was overturned by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the amendment was substantively equivalent to four separate amendments and thus violated constitutional prohibitions on bundling amendment questions together in referendums. In 1903, the court relocated to chambers in the new Mississippi State Capitol. In 1914, a series of constitutional amendments were ratified providing for the popular election of six justices to eight-year terms, with the first election taking place in 1916. In 1949, the justices began wearing judicial robes during their sittings. In the first half of the 20th century, the court heard cases concerning cars, Prohibition, and economic relief efforts made in response to the Great Depression. In the late 1940s, several cases brought before the court dealt with civil rights issues. The court was expanded to nine justices by constitutional amendment in 1952. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the court expanded the rights of criminal defendants and heard more cases concerning personal injury suits. In 1973, the court moved out of the capitol building into the Carroll Gartin Justice Building. An amendment three years later made the Supreme Court responsible for appointing its own clerk. From 1916 to 1980, all Supreme Court elections were effectively decided in the Democratic Party's primary elections, as Mississippi was essentially a one-party state and no Republicans or independents offered challenges in the state's general elections during that time. Judicial primaries were eliminated by law and judicial elections made nonpartisan in 1994. In the 1970s, courts in Mississippi began moving for the adoption of standard rules of civil procedure. Over the course of the 1980s, the Supreme Court, citing an inherent authority granted by the state constitution and common law to formulate rules for all state courts, adopted several sets of rules, including rules of procedure, rules of evidence, and rules of practice. The adoption of such rules led to tension with legislature, which had up to that point specified most procedural rules in its laws. The legislature considered impeaching justices which had favored the rules adoptions or amending the constitution to limit the court's authority before eventually deciding to withdraw appropriat.... Discover the Supreme Court Of Mississippi popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Supreme Court Of Mississippi books.