Nevada State Library and Archives

At the time the government for the Nevada Territory was being formed, the First Territorial Legislature passed "An Act adopting the Common Law." The State Constitution, in turn, accepted the laws of the Territory, subject to amendment, repeal or expiration (Art. 17, sec. 2). The Nevada Revised Statutes at 1.030 states, "The common law of England, so far as it is not repugnant to or in conflict with the Constitution and laws of the United States, or the Constitution and laws of this state, shall be the rule of decision in all the courts of this state." This means that Nevada courts would not be making decisions in a vacuum, but would follow the long line of judicial precedent established in England and largely carried over to the new United States.

Article 6, section 1 of the Nevada Constitution vests the judicial power of the state in a court system comprised of the Supreme Court, the district courts and justices' courts. In addition, the legislature has established municipal courts as courts of limited jurisdiction in incorporated areas.

The other courts of limited jurisdiction are the justices' courts, staffed by justices of the peace and hearing only minor civil and criminal matters. The district courts are courts of general jurisdiction, trial courts hearing civil and criminal matters of a more serious nature. The Supreme Court is the court of last resort, reviewing appeals from the decisions of the district courts. The Supreme Court must consider all cases filed.

The Supreme Court selectively publishes the opinions of each of its annual sessions in the Nevada Reports. Decisions of the lower courts are not published.

Supreme Court Justices and District Court Judges are elected to six-year terms, assuming office on the first Monday in January after their election. The Governor fills mid-term vacancies by appointment from nominees submitted by the Commission on Judicial Selection (established by Constitutional amendment in 1976. Art. 6, sec. 20). Appointments are effective the day the appointee takes the oath of office. Justices, judges and justices of the peace can be removed from office by recall, impeachment*, legislative removal*, or by the Commission on Judicial Discipline, which was established by Constitutional amendment in 1976 (Art. 6, sec. 21). *Apparently no judge has been impeached in Nevada, but in 1921 the Assembly voted to remove Frank P. Langen from office. The Senate failed to get a required two third's majority to pass the resolution.

Originally, the Supreme Court consisted of three justices, the chief justice and two associate justices, with staggered terms two years apart. The legislature could increase the number of justices to five, which it did in 1967. The chief justice is the justice most senior in commission, but if two or more justices' commissions bear the same date, the chief justice is chosen by lot. An amendment to Article 6, section 2 of the Constitution in 1976 permits the legislature to increase or diminish the number of justices and allows the creation of panels if the court consists of more than five justices.

The terms of the Supreme Court are to be held in the state capital, although it may hear oral arguments at other places in the state. The court holds several sessions a year in Las Vegas and has heard oral arguments for educational purposes in Reno and in Elko. The court has had chambers in several locations in Carson City. Initially, the court shared quarters with other state offices on the second floor of Abraham Curry's Great Basin Hotel, at the corner of Carson and Musser Streets, now the site of the Carson City Courthouse. It moved to the newly-built Capitol Building in 1871, where it remained until its own Supreme Court and Library Building was constructed in 1937. (The "Library" was the Nevada State Library, an executive branch agency whose Law Division became the Supreme Court Library in 1973). This structure now houses the Office of the Attorney General at 198 South Carson Street. In 1992, the court moved to its current building at 201 South Carson Street. 

Supreme Court Case Files, 1862-1937