Connecticut Judicial Branch

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Fun Facts

  • The Supreme Court was founded in 1784 as an extension of the General Assembly, which determined appeals by examining trial court records. The Supreme Court was not completely independent of the executive and legislative branches until 1818, when the Connecticut Constitution established an independent judiciary, with the Supreme Court of Errors as the state's highest court.
  • Judges and Justices in Connecticut have a mandatory retirement age of 70. When judges on the Appellate and Superior Courts turn 70, they may continue working in their courts as Judge Trial Referees. However, when Supreme Court Justices turn 70, they may no longer hear cases at the Supreme Court. Justice Richard N. Palmer reached the age of retirement this week. He may continue to hear cases at the Appellate Court or at the Superior Court.
  • In the Supreme Court are two murals by renowned artist Albert Herter. These murals were considered finishing touches and were hung in the courtroom in 1913. The mural on the back wall is called, “Fundamental Orders 1638-1639,” and the mural on the ceiling is called, “An Allegory of Education.” The two murals together illustrate for visitors to the court that our justices make their decisions based on the law (represented by the Fundamental Orders) and the justices’ ability to understand and interpret the laws comes from their education.
  • Judges and justices wear black robes as a matter of tradition dating back to the 1320s in colonial England. English judges wore colorful robes and ornate wigs, but Thomas Jefferson wanted to do away with the pageantry and compromised that American judges would wear black robes and no wigs. Chief Justice Richard Robinson wears his black judicial robe.
  • In the Supreme Court, there are no witnesses. Instead, the justices decide cases on the briefs written by the attorneys, transcripts of the case in Superior Court and the oral arguments presented by attorneys in the Supreme Court courtroom.
  • On May 25, 1909, the cornerstone of the Connecticut Supreme Court was laid in the northeast corner of the building. The cornerstone contains Connecticut and U.S. flags, books, photographs and coins, a piece of the Charter Oak and the day’s Hartford newspapers.
  • The four figures on top of the Supreme Court represent art, science, justice and history. They were sculpted by an artist named François Tonetti and were modeled by state workers.
  • The oldest courthouse in Connecticut is the New London Courthouse located on Huntington Street, which was built in 1784 to replace the courthouse and town hall that was burned by the British during the American Revolution. Here are images of the courthouse circa 1885 and 1891. At this point the courthouse was already 100 years old.
  • The first Connecticut judicial proceedings probably were held on April 26, 1636, at “A Corte holden in Newton” (Hartford) under the commission granted to eight leaders by the General Court of Massachusetts Bay.
  • The Connecticut Supreme Court has had two female chief justices, each of whom was appointed by a female governor. Our first female chief justice was Ellen Ash Peters, who was appointed by our first female governor, Ella Grasso. Our second female chief justice, Chase T. Rogers, was appointed by our second female governor, M. Jodi Rell.