The state's 1868 constitution made the attorney general an elected executive official with their duties prescribed by law.

The title "Attorney General" was used in the colonial territory encompassing what became North Carolina as early as 1677, when George Durant was appointed by Governor John Jenkins.

[3] The last colonial attorney general, Thomas McGuire, was appointed in 1767 and, according to the Office of the North Carolina Secretary of State, "presumably" served until the outbreak of the American Revolution.

[5] Under this framework, the attorney general served as the legal advisor to the North Carolina Council of State, but was not formally one of its members.

[8] The constitution made the attorney general an ex officio member of the State Board of Education[9] and provided for the officer's duties to be determined by law.

That year, the General Assembly prescribed eight statutory duties for the attorney general: defending the state's interests in legal matters, representing government agencies upon request, advising local prosecutors, delivering an annual report to the legislature, summarizing reports from local prosecutors, providing legal advice to the legislature and other government agencies, delivering funds to the state, and maintaining a record of their office's accounts.

[12][13] In the early 1970s, incumbent Robert Burren Morgan shifted the office's emphasis from government legal matters and law enforcement towards consumer protection, and raised its political profile by forming relationships with the governor, the General Assembly, and other states' attorneys general.

[14] In 1984, a referendum approved an amendment to the constitution to require that the attorney general be licensed to practice law in North Carolina.

[18] Article III, Section 7, of the Constitution of North Carolina stipulates the popular election of the attorney general every four years.

[11] Their duties include providing legal representation to all state agencies; supplying advice upon request to judges, magistrates, and county and city attorneys in accordance with the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct; and addressing appeals to state trial court verdicts.

[32] The Supreme Court of North Carolina has not delineated the scope of the officer's common law authority, though it has ruled that this bestows upon the attorney general a "duty to prosecute all actions necessary for the protection and defense of the property and revenue of the sovereign people of North Carolina.