NC General Statutes

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• search_statutes

  Search North Carolina (NC) statutes by topic, keyword or phrase. Use this when you know the SUBJECT but not the citation — "what's the NC law about leaving a dog in a hot car", "failure to appear penalty", "when can I expunge a misdemeanor". If you already have a citation, use get_statute instead. Returns ranked sections with highlighted fragments showing why each matched, not full text: pick the one you want and call get_statute for it. Supports quoted "exact phrases", -excluded terms and `or`. Court shorthand is expanded automatically and case-insensitively — FTA, DWLR, PJC, AWDW and similar become the statutory wording, because the statute book spells the phrase out and never uses the abbreviation. The expansion is reported back as `expanded_query`. Searches the law in force today, at section level. A low top rank means the corpus probably has no section on point — NC simply has no statute on some subjects, and saying so is a better answer than the nearest loose word match.

• get_statute

  Full text of one North Carolina (NC) General Statutes section, by citation. Use for "what does G.S. 14-72.1 say". Accepts any spelling — "14-72.1", "G.S. 14-72.1", "§ 14-72.1". Returns catchline, body, history note, and when it was first enacted and last amended. `as_of` gives the text observed on a past date; `pending` lists variants enacted but not yet effective. Carries `codified_through`, `session_laws_through` and a `legislation_note` naming any enacted act that touches this section outside the codified text. An uncodified override ("Notwithstanding G.S. ...") is never codified, so it is reported regardless of the watermark. PENDING BILLS ARE NOT COVERED — a ratified bill is not law and appears in neither source, so an empty note is not evidence nothing passed. `as_of` RESOLVES AGAINST OBSERVED VERSIONS, NOT EFFECTIVE DATES — it answers "what did this database hold on that date", so it cannot reach text from before the first ingest run. For "what took effect on 1 October" use r

• pending_changes

  North Carolina (NC) statute text already enacted but not yet effective. Use for "what changes to Chapter 14 are coming". Returns each section's current text alongside the future variant, its effective date, and by default a diff of the two. Distinguishes an AMENDMENT (current text exists) from a NEW SECTION (nothing in force yet, so no diff). Only counts variants dated in the future. For text in force now use get_statute; for already-enacted history use amendment_history or recent_law_changes.

• amendment_history

  When a North Carolina (NC) statute section was enacted and every time it was amended. Use for "how often has G.S. 14-33 changed" or "when was this last amended". Returns one entry per session law mined from the section's own history note, grouped by year, plus first-enacted year and total amendment count. These are STATUTORY dates from the legislature's record — not when this database saw the text change. For that use recent_law_changes; for the wording itself use get_statute or diff_statute.

• diff_statute

  Word-level diff of a North Carolina (NC) statute section between two versions. `mode="pending"` compares the text in force against an enacted-but-not-yet-effective variant — use this for "what will change on 1 October". `mode="observed"` compares versions this database has actually recorded, optionally between two dates. CANNOT show text from before the ingest's first observation: observed history begins then, so most sections have only one version and return diff: null. For earlier change dates use amendment_history; for pending text use pending_changes.

• recent_law_changes

  Changed North Carolina (NC) statutes, by effective date, observation or session year. source="effective" answers "what took effect on 1 October" from ncleg's own effective dates — use it for that, and bound a single day with since=until. It looks FORWARD too, so it also answers "what takes effect next quarter". source="statutory" is the legislature's record from history notes, back to the 1800s, dated by year. source="observed" is only when this database saw text change — ncleg's publishing schedule, not the law's, and no substitute for effective dates. "both" returns statutory + observed. For one section use amendment_history.

• chapter_activity

  How much legislative churn a North Carolina (NC) statute chapter has seen. Use for "which parts of Chapter 14 keep changing". Returns amendment counts by year, the most-amended sections with their totals, and counts of pending and repealed sections. Omit `chapter` for a corpus-wide view. Counts are STATUTORY, from history notes — not observations. For one section use amendment_history; for upcoming text use pending_changes.

• cross_references

  Which North Carolina (NC) statutes this section cites, and which cite it. Use for "what does G.S. 14-72.1 depend on" or "what else references it". OUTBOUND is what the section's own text cites; INBOUND is every section citing it — the direction you cannot get by reading one statute. Section-level only: a reference to 20-141(j1) is an edge to 20-141. Chapter-wide and "this Article" references are not edges. For the text itself use get_statute.