Can the state’s top court raise bar advocate pay rates? The justices will look to answer that question themselves.

In an effort to end a work stoppage that has roiled the Massachusetts justice system , the state’s highest court will decide whether the trial courts can unilaterally increase pay for court-appointed attorneys, in a move that could have judges take on duties historically reserved for the Legislature.

The full seven-member panel of the Supreme Judicial Court could ultimately decide whether to raise appointed attorneys’ pay across the board or in individual cases, as it weighs the Legislature’s well-established control over spending against the judges’ concerns for the crisis in the courts.

The court will hear oral arguments in November, according to a Thursday court order.

The hearings would for the first time give all of the members of the court the ability to weigh in on a crisis t