Weber County (Utah). Probate Court

Civil and criminal case files, 1852-1887.

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Schedule Description

In 1852 the Utah Territorial Legislature provided that the Probate Court should have jurisdiction not only in estate and guardianship matters, but original jurisdiction in civil, criminal, and chancery cases. The Probate Court could act as an appellant court to the Justice of the Peace Courts in the County, and decisions made in the Probate Court could be appealed to the District Court. This series includes those cases handled by the Probate Court which are not probate or estate cases. Civil cases include primarily divorce, debt, and damages cases. Criminal cases include larceny, assault, and disturbing the peace charges. Other case types include appeals and habeas corpus hearings. In 1874 the federal Poland Act revoked the jurisdiction of the Probate Court over all but divorce and probate cases. In 1887, the federal Edmunds-Tucker act revoked Probate Court jurisdiction in divorce cases, and with that Act, the creation of this series ended.

Scope and Content

In 1852, the Utah Territorial Legislature provided that the Probate Court should have jurisdiction not only in estate and guardianship matters, but original jurisdiction in civil, criminal, and chancery cases. The Probate Court could act as an appellant court to the Justice of the Peace Courts in the County, and decisions made in the Probate Court could be appealed to the District Court. This series includes those cases handled by the Probate Court which are not probate or estate cases. Civil cases include primarily divorce, debt, replevin, damages, contract and property disputes. Criminal cases include larceny, robbery, assault, burglary, disturbing the peace, and contempt of court charges, as well as others. Other case types include appeals and habeas corpus hearings. In 1874, the federal Poland Act revoked the jurisdiction of the Probate Court over all but divorce and probate cases. In 1887, the federal Edmunds-Tucker act revoked Probate Court jurisdiction in divorce cases, and with that Act, the creation of this series ended.

Generally, case files include a number of discrete documents. These documents may include an initiating petition, summons and subpoenas issued to the parties in the case and to witnesses and potential jury members, bonds, exhibits, statements of fees, and other documents created and filed with the Court during the process of the trial action. Criminal cases may also include grand jury indictments, jury verdicts, and orders of commitment to the penitentiary. Civil cases may include affidavits of publication of summons in those cases where the defendant was not served personally, as well as decrees detailing the disposition of the case. Appeals may include the transcript of the proceedings of the lower court.

This series also includes items that are not case files as such, but individual documents filed with the court. For example, transcripts of hearings in other courts may have been filed with the court and are represented in this series. Individual pieces of correspondence which are not related to a case file before the court may also be included as a separate file.

Divorces make up the largest portion of these case files. Prior to 1878, Utah Territory had one of the most liberal divorce laws in the United States and did not require residency in order to obtain a divorce within the territory. A simple statement that the married couple could not live in peace and union together was sufficient grounds for the granting of a divorce decree. As such, once the establishment of the railroad system provided regular access to the territory in 1869, the Probate Court handled many divorces for persons who could not meet the stricter laws regarding the granting of divorces in their home states. In 1878, the territorial Legislature changed the law to require residency, thereby decreasing significantly the number of divorces handled by the Probate Court.

Notes

Case files are arranged chronologically based on the filing date of the initiating petition prior to 1879. Starting in 1879, case files are arranged numerically by case number, with case numbers being assigned roughly chronologically based on the filing date of the initiating petition. For civil cases filed prior to 1879, case dates are based on the clerk's or judge's filing date written on the complaint. If that is not available, the filing date of the initiating petition as recorded in the minutes is used. If neither of those dates is available, the date used is either the date the complaint was signed, or the date of the first surviving document filed with the court. For criminal cases, the date of the grand jury indictment is used if available. If not, the date of the initiating complaint is used or the date of the first surviving document filed with the Probate Court.

An index to the names of persons and/or corporate bodies who were parties to the actions in these files has been created. The index entries include columns for the party's name, title, whether the party was a plaintiff or defendant, the case number, the box and folder number, the case type, filing date, and opposing party. Some civil and criminal case files handled by the Probate Court are only recorded in the records of actions books, and some are only in the case files series. Those recorded in the books only are not included in this index. To use the index, the researcher might find it helpful to know some of the procedures used in the creation of the index. For example, the spelling of certain names was not always consistent throughout the documents in the files. Generally the manner of spelling was chosen from the person's signature if available. If the signature was not available, the most commonly-used form was taken for the index. Given the inconsistencies in spelling, researchers may find it helpful to search the electronic version of the index for a first name if the party for whom they are searching had an uncommon first name. Corporate names are in the surnames field, and for those persons with unknown portions of their name, the relevant field is left blank. The title field is used with names which include a designation such as Sr., Jr., or Mrs. It is also used for those cases in which a party is acting as an agent, trustee, estate executor, or in an official government capacity such as assessor or sheriff. Case file types were determined by what the documents themselves are labeled. Some exceptions include those terms that are not in common modern usage and are not particularly descriptive of the case type. Many debt collection and replevin cases were labeled "in assumpsit demand" and those too have been modified to a more descriptive term. Other cases do not include a specific criminal charge or civil case. For those cases the field for case type was left blank, or a case type was chosen which would be the term most commonly used for other cases involving similar issues. The field for opposing party contains only the last name of individuals. In cases in which the opposing party consists of two persons, the field contains both of their names (e.g. Jones & Smith). In the case of more than two opposing parties, the field includes the name of the first one listed on the complaint followed by an et al (e.g. Jones et al). When the opposing party consists of a partnership or business followed by the partners' names, only the business name is listed in the field. to the names of persons and/or corporate bodies who were parties to the actions in these files has been created.

Archival processing of this series was completed by A. B. Schmuland in October 2001. The original order of the case files was reestablished at this time, documents were moved into appropriate case files, and an electronic index to case files was created during this procedure. The documents had been microfilmed prior to processing, and with the amount of reorganization of records necessitated by processing, the filming was deaccessioned. The series will be refilmed for ease of research use.

For the most part, case files are not complete pictures of the case. In many instances, the disposition of the case was not kept as a distinct document and so cannot be found in these files. Cases involving the same individuals in close time frames may have documents relevant to both cases in only one file, that usually being the first one. These case files also include a number of transcripts related to criminal proceedings that postdate the end of the court's jurisdiction over criminal matters in 1874. Most of these transcripts were generated by Justice of the Peace Courts in Weber County and may have been filed with the Probate Court as a prelude to an appeal in the District Court, or possibly in relation to an execution of judgment to be carried out.

At some point these files were transferred from the Probate Court to the District Court. Following this transfer the cases were divided into three series: civil, divorce, and criminal proceedings. The criminal and divorce cases were rearranged into alphabetical order by last name and all three series were microfilmed. The hard copy and microfilm of the case files were transferred to the Archives at a later date from the District Court (Second District: Weber County).