The North Carolina Court of Appeals, the second highest court in the state, is comprised of fifteen judges who are individually elected by a statewide vote for a term of eight years.

Created by a state constitutional amendment in 1965, the Court of Appeals receives most of its appeals from the trial courts (District and Superior), but also hears appeals directly from decisions of the Industrial Commission (workers' compensation claims), Banking Commission, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources and Insurance Commission, among other agencies of the State. Included within its scope of responsibility are matters concerning workers' rights, family relations, commercial litigation, property rights, criminal law, and many other types of disputes. The only cases not heard by the Court of Appeals are death penalty appeals and utility rate cases; these cases proceed directly to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Like the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals decides only questions of law.

The Court of Appeals sits in three-judge panels, and each case is decided by majority vote of the panel assigned to that case. Cases in which there is a dissent in the Court of Appeals go to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, in its discretion, also accepts select cases for review through petition. The great majority of cases decided by the Court of Appeals are not reviewed by the Supreme Court.

Judges are assigned by the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals to sit in panels in such a fashion that each will sit, as nearly as possible, an equal number of times with every other judge. The Court of Appeals sits primarily in Raleigh, but panels of the Court occasionally sit in other places throughout the state.