In each county a Sheriff shall be elected by the qualified voters thereof at the same time and places as members of the General Assembly are elected and shall hold his office for a period of four years, subject to removal for cause as provided by law.
Cross References. - As to sheriffs, see G.S. 162-1 et seq.
History Note. - The provisions of this section are similar to those of Art. VII, § 5, Const. 1868, as amended in 1962.
Defeated Amendment Proposal. - An amendment proposed by Session Laws 1985, c. 768, ss. 9.1(2) and (10), and defeated at the primary election held on May 6, 1986, would have amended this section by inserting "except in 1988 at the same time and places as members of the United States House of Representatives are elected" following "General Assembly are enacted," and by adding "except that those elected in 1986 or 1988 shall serve for terms of five years" at the end of the section.
Legal Periodicals. - For a survey of 1996 developments in constitutional law, see 75 N.C.L. Rev. 2281 (1997).
CASE NOTES
Sheriffs Not Entitled to Eleventh Amendment Immunity. - The Eleventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution does not bar a suit against a sheriff in his official capacity, because state law treats sheriffs as local officials. Harter v. Vernon, 101 F.3d 334 (4th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 521 U.S. 1120, 117 S. Ct. 2511, 138 L. Ed. 2d 1014 (1997).
In the injured party's suit against a sheriff and individual detention officers arising out of a five-day episode in the county detention center where she alleged that they ignored her requests for medical treatment, the trial court properly concluded that the office of North Carolina sheriff was a "person" under 42 U.S.C.S. § 1983 because: (1) the state constitution created the office of sheriff, N.C. Const. art. VII, § 2, but included that provision within the article governing local governments, along with provisions for counties, cities, towns, and other governmental subdivisions, N.C. Const. art. VII, § 1; (2) state statutes, including G.S. 17E-1, 160A-288.2, 143-166.50, and 97-2, characterized a sheriff's department as a local governmental entity; (3) there was no contention that the State would be potentially liable for any monetary judgment entered against the sheriff and the detention officers; and (4) the State did not have, with respect to a sheriff, the minimum degree of control required for Eleventh Amendment immunity. Boyd v. Robeson County, - N.C. App. - , 615 S.E.2d 296 (2005), cert. denied, - N.C. - , 615 S.E.2d 866 (2005).
In the State of North Carolina, a sheriff is a person amendable to suit under 42 U.S.C.S. § 1983. Boyd v. Robeson County, 169 N.C. App. 460, 621 S.E.2d 1 (2005).
Trial court properly denied summary judgment to a sheriff and two detention center officers with regard to a former inmate's suit asserting a violation of her state and federal constitutional rights with regard to allegedly having been denied medical treatment for appendicitis while incarcerated at a county detention center. The sheriff and the officers were "persons" amendable to suit under 42 U.S.C.S. § 1983 and were not immune since the indifference shown, despite the inmate's repeated complaints of pain, was not protected by qualified immunity. Boyd v. Robeson County, 169 N.C. App. 460, 621 S.E.2d 1 (2005).
A sheriff occupies a constitutional public office, and takes office, not by contract, but by commission subject to the power of the legislature to fix fees and compensation for which the Constitution does not provide. Borders v. Cline, 212 N.C. 472, 193 S.E. 826 (1937), decided under former Art. IV, § 24, Const. 1868, prior to amendment in 1962.
Sheriffs Are Local Officers. - In providing for the organization of local governments, the N.C. Constitution does not make sheriffs state rather than local officers; therefore, Industrial Commission did not have jurisdiction to hear claims of negligence against county sheriffs. Hull v. Oldham, 104 N.C. App. 29, 407 S.E.2d 611, cert. denied, 330 N.C. 441, 412 S.E.2d 72 (1991).
Deputy Sheriffs. - While the office of sheriff is provided for by this section, the right of the sheriff to appoint deputies is a common-law right; deputies appointed by the sheriff are public officers, but their duties and authority relate only to ministerial duties imposed by law upon the sheriff, in the performance of which they act for the sheriff in his name and right. Gowens v. Alamance County, 3 S.E.2d 339 (1939), decided under former Art. IV, § 24, Const. 1868, prior to amendment in 1962.
Cited in Messick v. Catawba County, 110 N.C. App. 707, 431 S.E.2d 489 (1993); Durham Herald Co. v. County of Durham, 334 N.C. 677, 435 S.E.2d 317 (1993); Braswell v. Ellis, 950 F. Supp. 145 (E.D.N.C. 1995); Harter v. Vernon, 953 F. Supp. 685 (M.D.N.C. 1996), aff'd, 101 F.3d 334 (4th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 521 U.S. 1120, 117 S. Ct. 2511, 138 L. Ed. 2d 1014 (1997); Hubbard v. County of Cumberland, 143 N.C. App. 149, 544 S.E.2d 587 (2001), cert. denied, 354 N.C. 69, 553 S.E.2d 40 (2001).
Opinions of Attorney General
Confiscated Drugs. - If federal authorities confiscate drug related property and thereafter return a part of it to local authorities for law enforcement purposes, the North Carolina Constitution and laws do not require these funds to go to the local school board as forfeited property and they may be used by local law enforcement. See opinion of the Attorney General to Mr. Aubrey S. Tomlinson, Jr., Attorney for Franklin County, 58 N.C.A.G. 51 (1988).