The North Carolina General Assembly, also known as the Legislative Branch of the state government, created many documents that were intended to serve as a historical record for their actions. Some items were created to document specific actions of each portion of the legislature, such as the Journals of the Senate and the Journals of the House of Representatives. Other items were created to document collaborative efforts such as the Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly. Compilations have also been authorized to summarize or to collect specific items into meaningful books for other purposes, such as the Public Documents of the General Assembly for a given session, or the Collections of Acts for a combination of years.

The reader will find that many of the same types of documents were named differently as time passed. For example, the General Assembly began to issue "Laws of North Carolina" at the beginning in 1777, and "The Laws of the State of North Carolina" in 1817 for each year. In 1823, these were renamed to "Acts Passed by the General Assembly" on a yearly basis. In 1836, the name reverted back to the "Laws of the State of North Carolina," but instead of being issued yearly, they were issued bi-annually. In 1854, the General Assembly issued separate compilations of "Public Laws" vs. "Private Laws" bi-annually. In 1873, these were renamed to "Public Laws and Resolutions" vs. "Private Laws." In 1883, all were combined into a single document titled "Laws and Resolutions." In 1893, "Public" vs. "Private" laws were again separated. From 1911 to 1919, "Public-Local Laws" were separated from "Public Laws" and "Private Laws." The "Private Laws" were subsequently issued sporadically through 1941. From 1943 onward, all were published under the title of "Session Laws" and issued mostly bi-annually, with a few exceptions when new laws were passed during "Special Sessions" or "Extra Sessions" of the General Assembly.

From 1777 to 1820, the General Assembly retained their Journals and Legislative Acts, also known as Session Laws. In 1820, the General Assembly began to compile all of their Legislative Acts into "General Statutes," and these were updated approximately every twenty years or so.

FYI, the documents below had their own purpose and intended audience. Some were not prepared for every year or session. All items identified with a "Year or Name" have been found and are included herein to be viewed or downloaded. Items identified as " - " have not been found by this Author as yet or may not exist for whatever reason. As you will find, some of the originals that were scanned were in terrible shape, so be aware that there are plenty of issues with some of these documents. If better versions can be found, the poor quality items will be replaced.

This Author has made an extensive search to find all possible versions of these historical documents in electronic format - specifically in Adobe PDF - and to post as many of these eBooks as possible in this one location to help researchers find specifics that have been scattered all across the 'Net. Not all versions have been located, and the Author sincerely wishes that others might dig out the missing items and transmit them to me such that they can be added here. If I come across missing items, they will be added here when possible.