DURING 1977, A TOTAL OF 1,447,758 CASES OF ALL TYPES WERE REPORTED FILED IN NORTH CAROLINA'S SUPERIOR AND DISTRICT COURTS. BY CATEGORY, THE NUMBERS FILED RANGED FROM 10,401 CIVIL CASES IN THE SUPERIOR COURTS TO 721,048 CRIMINAL CASES (TRAFFIC OFFENSES) IN THE STATE'S DISTRICT COURTS. EACH OF THE STATE'S 100 COUNTIES CONTRIBUTED A PORTION OF THESE FILINGS, RANGING FROM A TOTAL OF 1,021 IN GRAHAM TO 113,354 IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY. A TOTAL OF 1,391,769 CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CASES WERE DISPOSED OF IN THE STATE'S DISTRICT AND SUPERIOR COURTS. IN TERMS OF CATEGORY, THE NUMBERS RANGED FROM 9,447 CIVIL CASES DISPOSED OF BY THE SUPERIOR COURTS TO 696,421 CRIMINAL CASES (TRAFFIC OFFENSES) DISPOSED OF IN THE STATE'S DISTRICT COURTS. EACH OF THE STATE'S 100 COUNTIES CONTRIBUTED A PORTION OF THESE CASE DISPOSITIONS, RANGING FROM A TOTAL OF 898 IN GRAHAM COUNTY, TO 103,621 IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY. THE COMBINED TOTAL OF CASE FILINGS AND CASE DISPOSITIONS DURING 1977 FOR THE ENTIRE STATE WAS 2,839,527. THIS WAS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL CASE NUMBERS (WITH OTHER ACCOMPANYING DATA ELEMENTS) REPORTED TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS BY THE 100 CLERKS OF THE SUPERIOR COURTS. THE CATEGORIES OF CASES FOR WHICH FILINGS AND DISPOSITIONS ARE BROKEN DOWN AT THE SUPERIOR COURT LEVEL ARE CRIMINAL (FELONY), CIVIL, CRIMINAL (MISDEMEANOR APPEALS), SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS, AND ESTATES. FOR THE DISTRICT COURT LEVEL THE CATEGORIES ARE CRIMINAL (MOTOR VEHICLE OFFENSES), CRIMINAL (OTHER), GENERAL CIVIL, DOMESTIC RELATIONS, AND SMALL CLAIMS. A MANUAL CASE DATA REPORTING SYSTEM IS STILL IN USE, BUT EFFORTS ARE GOING FORWARD TO DEVELOP A COMPLETE COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR NORTH CAROLINA COURTS. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--RCB)