Rhode Island Supreme Court

{{Short description|Highest court in the U.S. state of Rhode Island}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox high court

|court_name = Rhode Island Supreme Court

|image = Seal of Rhode Island.svg

|imagesize = 120px

|caption = State Seal of Rhode Island

|image2=Providence county courthouse, Rhode Island.jpg|caption2=The Providence County Courthouse|established = 1747 (colonial form) 1841, (current constitution)

|jurisdiction = Rhode Island

|location= Providence, Rhode Island

|coordinates=

|type = Appointment by governor, legislative consent

|authority = Rhode Island Constitution

|appealsto = Supreme Court of the United States

|terms =

|positions = 5

|website = [https://www.courts.ri.gov/Courts/SupremeCourt/Pages/default.aspx Official website]

|chiefjudgetitle = Chief Justice

|chiefjudgename = Paul Suttell

|termstart = July 16, 2009

|termend =

|termend2 =

}}

The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by the Judicial Nominating Commission. Each justice enjoys lifetime tenure and no mandatory retirement age, similar to Federal judges. Justices may be removed only if impeached for improper conduct by a vote of the Rhode Island House of Representatives and convicted by trial in the Rhode Island Senate.

History

In 1747, the Rhode Island General Assembly authorized the creation of a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, and General Gaol Delivery, consisting of one chief justice and four associates, all serving one year terms. The 1747 enactment replaced an earlier appeals court of the same name, which had been composed of the governor or deputy governor and at least six of the elected "assistants," which dated to 1729 under the same name and the composition dated back to the 1663 charter when it was known as the "General Court of Trials." This court had replaced an even earlier court formed under the Charter of 1644, a 1647 enactment of a code of laws, and a 1651 amendment creating appellate jurisdiction.Gail I. Winson, "Researching the Laws of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: From Lively Experiment to Statehood" pg. 19–22 [http://law.rwu.edu/sites/law/files/rwu/Library/pdf/rhode_island_gw_0104.pdf]

Most of the judges during the 18th century were laymen, merchants or farmers and did not possess formal legal training, and therefore the court did not explicitly follow English common law. Parties, however, could still appeal to either the British monarch, English courts or the General Assembly until independence in 1776.{{cite book|title=RHODE ISLAND|author=RICHMAN, I.B.|date=1905|url=https://archive.org/details/rhodeislandastu00richgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/rhodeislandastu00richgoog/page/n210 191]|access-date=2015-09-11}}

In 1747 the General Assembly appointed the first Chief Justice, Gideon Cornell, who was a judge, farmer, and merchant, and the second, Joshua Babcock, a Yale-educated physician. Stephen Hopkins, later signatory of the Declaration of Independence, served as the third Chief Justice from 1747 to 1755.

In 1798, the General Assembly renamed the Court the "Supreme Judicial Court," and in 1843, the "Supreme Court." The first officially recorded decision was Stoddard v. Martin, 1 R.I. 1 (1828), a case involving gambling on an election. Since 1930, the Court has been located within the Licht Judicial Complex at the base of College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island. Until 1994, the General Assembly sitting with both houses in "Grand Committee" chose the Supreme Court justices without the governor's consent. In 1994, after a wave of corruption scandals, citizens amended the Rhode Island Constitution to allow the governor to choose Supreme Court nominees from a list of candidates approved by a non-partisan nominating committee. Both houses of the General Assembly still must approve any nominees.

Current justices

class="wikitable sortable"

! Justice

! Born

! Joined

! Appointed by

! Law school

{{sortname|Paul|Suttell}}, Chief Justice

| {{birth date and age|1949|1|10}}

| {{dts|2003|7|9}}{{efn|Took office as Chief Justice on July 16, 2009.}}

| {{Party shading/Republican}}| Donald Carcieri (R)

| Suffolk

{{sortname|Maureen McKenna|Goldberg}}

| {{birth date and age|1951|2|11}}

| {{dts|1997|5|3}}

| {{Party shading/Republican}}| Lincoln Almond (R)

| Suffolk

{{sortname|William P.|Robinson III}}

| {{birth date and age|1940|1|30}}

| {{dts|2004|9|7}}

| {{Party shading/Republican}}| Donald Carcieri (R)

| Boston College

{{sortname|Erin|Lynch Prata}}

| {{birth date and age|1975|5|17}}

| {{dts|2021|01|04}}

| {{Party shading/Democratic}}| Gina Raimondo (D)

| Catholic

{{sortname|Melissa A.|Long}}

| {{birth based on age as of date|49|2020|09|01}}

| {{dts|2021|01|11}}

| {{Party shading/Democratic}}| Gina Raimondo (D)

| George Mason

{{notelist}}

Notable cases

  • Stoddard v. Martin (1828) first case recorded in the official reports of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
  • Trevett v. Weeden (1786), (involving the legitimacy of paper money) was one of the first cases where a state court held a legislative act unconstitutional, setting precedent for Marbury v. Madison.Warren, Charles. History of the Harvard Law School and of Early Legal Conditions in America. New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1908. Three volumes, pg. 66 [https://books.google.com/books?id=7GbD_J57LbQC&pg=PA66]
  • Angel v. Murray, 113 R.I. 482, 322 A.2d 630 (1974), which was the first case to apply the UCC's reasoning on contract modification to service contracts. The rule states that a contract does not always need additional consideration for modification, provided certain conditions are present.
  • Picard v. Barry Pontiac-Buick, Inc., 654 A.2d 690 (R.I. 1995), a tort case, which is often used as an example of battery in tort textbooks.

Notable justices

File:View_of_Courthouse_and_Memorial_Park.jpg]]

{{See also|List of justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court}}

Chief justices

{{See also|List of Chief Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court}}

A few noted Chief Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court include:

Images

File:Old Colony House Newport Rhode Island.jpg|The 18th Century Newport Colony House was an early meeting place of the Court

File:Dr. Joshua Babcock of Westerly RI.jpg|Dr. Joshua Babcock was the 2nd and 10th Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court

File:Stephen Hopkins (NYPL NYPG97-F76-420410) (cropped).jpg|3rd Chief Justice, Stephen Hopkins, later signed the Declaration of Independence

Footnotes

{{Reflist}}