Law Between the Lines

This article takes the position that the law can be found between the lines of appellate opinions. Several North Carolina cases admit to sub silentio overrulings, and one court of appeals case explicitly found error when a trial court did not find that a case had been overruled sub silentio. Additionally, North Carolina appellate courts regularly avoid explicitly detailing the impact an opinion has on the precedential value of an earlier case, and instead invite the lower courts to make that determination for themselves.