South Carolina Law And Government

South Carolina's state government consists of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. The governor is elected for a four-year term and may serve two consecutive terms. He heads the Executive branch (some officers of which are elected). The current governor is Republican Mark Sanford. He is currently serving his second term. The bicameral South Carolina General Assembly consists of the 46-member Senate and the 124-member House of Representatives. The two bodies meet in the South Carolina State House. The Judicial Branch consists of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Circuit Court, Family Court, and other divisions.

The Family Court deals with all matters of domestic and family relationships, as well as generally maintaining exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving minors under the age of seventeen, excepting traffic and game law violations. Some criminal charges may come under Circuit Court jurisdiction.

The Circuit Court is the general jurisdiction court for South Carolina. It comprises the Civil Court, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of General Sessions, which is the criminal court. The court maintains limited appellate jurisdiction over the Probate Court, Magistrate's Court, Municipal Court, and the Administrative Law Judge Division. The state has sixteen judicial circuits, each with at least one resident circuit judge.

The Court of Appeals handles Circuit Court and Family Court appeals, excepting appeals that are within the seven classes of exclusive Supreme Court jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals is selected by the General Assembly for staggered, six-year terms. The court comprises a chief judge, and eight associate judges, and may hear cases as the whole court, or as three panels with three judges each. The court may preside in any county.

The Supreme Court is South Carolina's highest court. The Chief Justice and four Associate Justices are elected to ten year terms by the General Assembly. Terms are staggered, and there are no limits on the number of terms a justice may serve, but there is a mandatory retirement age of 72. The overwhelming majority of vacancies on the Court occur when Justices reach this age, not through the refusal of the General Assembly to elect a sitting Justice to another term.

• South Carolina Department of Public Safety
• South Carolina Department of Corrections
• South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services
  • South Carolina Highway Patrol Division
  • South Carolina State Transport Police Division
  • South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy Division
  • South Carolina Bureau of Protective Services
• South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division - Investigations & Homeland Security

South Carolina State House

This historic home is at "The Battery," a neighborhood/park area at the Downtown Historic District of Charleston - a well-known historical city in South Carolina. "The Battery" is also known as White Point Gardens.