CARIBOU (AP) – Sitting in Aroostook County for the first time in nearly a decade, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court provided lessons in the law for about 600 pupils.

The pupils sat in on four cases that were argued Tuesday at the Caribou Performing Arts Center, located at Caribou High School.

Noting that it was unusual for the court to sit anywhere other than a courthouse, Chief Justice Leigh Saufley told the students that it also was unique for such a large gathering of pupils to sit in on the proceedings.

Along with hearing oral arguments, the pupils from Caribou, Fort Fairfield, Fort Kent, Limestone, Madawaska and Presque Isle had the opportunity to ask the attorneys who gave the arguments questions about the cases after the court recessed.

“We try to get out of Portland on a regular basis,” Saufley told the students during one of the breaks.

The high court, which usually sits in Portland, picks two or three areas to visit every year. It chose Aroostook County, in part, to honor its newest member, Justice Warren Silver, whose hometown is Presque Isle.

Ron Willey, who heads the social studies department at Caribou High School, said the student presence was prompted by the realization that students had little knowledge about the Supreme Judicial Court.

“We’re hoping this will pique students’ interest in law, especially this level of law,” Willey said.

Saufley agreed, adding that she hoped that seeing the court in action would encourage students to seek careers in the field of law.

“We’re hoping they get a better, more visual idea of what the third branch looks like, what the judicial branch is doing,” she said.

The four appeals heard by the court included a precedent-setting case out of Aroostook County that focuses on a 10-year-old Maine law that provides visitation rights for grandparents if at least one of the child’s parents or legal guardians has died.

Herschel and Jane Conlogue of Littleton appealed a judge’s rejection of their petition for visitation with the 5-year-old daughter of their deceased son. The judge ruled that a section of the Maine Grandparents Visitation Act was unconstitutional because it interfered with a parent’s fundamental right to govern the care, custody and control of her child.

Saufley noted that the court generally issues its decisions three to nine months after oral arguments.