Opinion ID: 1855331
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: The jurisdiction of this Court on direct appeal from an order of a trial court is governed by the provisions of Article V, § 3(b)(1) of our constitution. This section provides that the Supreme Court shall hear appeals from final judgments and orders of trial courts initially and directly passing on the validity of a state statute or a federal statute or treaty, or construing a provision of the state or federal constitution. Although our direct appeals jurisdiction includes cases in which the trial court inherently passes upon the constitutionality of a statute, we may not accept a direct appeal based upon an inherent construction of a constitutional provision; it is insufficient to invoke our direct appeals jurisdiction that there was an inherent construction of a constitutional provision in the judgment appealed from, but rather there must be an express ruling by the trial court which explains, defines, or overtly states a view which eliminates some existing doubt as to a constitutional provision in order to support a direct appeal. [2] Our direct appeals jurisdiction is not properly invoked merely because the trial court may apply a constitutional provision to the facts before it, but rather is properly invoked as to construction of a constitutional provision only where the trial court has expressly construed the constitutional provision involved. [3] With these principles in mind, we shall examine the several issues raised on appeal to determine if our direct appeals jurisdiction has been properly invoked.