Series 25964
Supreme Court Minute books
Dates: 1859-1987.
10.50 cubic feet and 11 microfilm reels
These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.
Historical Note
An agency history is available.
Scope and Content
These minute books contain the documentation of daily proceedings of the Utah Supreme Court but are not transcripts of court cases. The abstracts recorded in these books document the variety of court matters the Utah Supreme Court has been engaged in over time. The main duty of the court was to hear and make decisions on lower court proceedings as they were appealed to the higher court. Most of the entries in these volumes reflect that emphasis as the majority document decisions rendered on various civil, criminal, or probate cases from across the state. Its not uncommon to also find entries related to the naturalization process in some of the earlier volumes. Information in these record books was recorded by the clerk of the court and typically consists of the names of appellants and respondents, the names of attorneys and representatives making oral argument before the court, the names and signatures of justices rendering opinions on cases, and in later volumes a case file number assigned on an individual case basis. These records are a useful resource in tracing not only changes in the structure and jurisdiction of the Utah Supreme Court, but in a broader sense larger changes in society based on the types of court cases appearing before the Utah Supreme Court.
Arrangement
Chronological by date.
Related Records
Utah Reporter from the Supreme Court, Series 1481, contains the published opinions of the Utah Supreme Court.
Minute book indexes from the Supreme Court, Series 25936, contains the minute books indexed by these records.
Registers of actions indexes from the Supreme Court, Series 25938, can be used to trace court actions involving the same set of cases on individual days.
Access Restrictions
This series is classified as Public.
Preferred Citation
Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.
Processing Note
This series was archivally processed by Jim Kichas in September 2005. The record books have been kept because of their intrinsic value, determined based on their status as a portion of the relatively few surviving historic records from the Utah Supreme Court.
Finding Aids
Indexes: The first two books in this series are self-indexed with the index appearing at the beginning of each book. Subsequent volumes are indexed by individual index books. This is true for all volumes except book 21, for which a known index does not exist.
Indexing Terms
Container List
| REEL | BOX | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | n/a | 1859-1881 |
| 1 | n/a | 1881-1889 |
| 2 | 3 | 1889-1894 |
| 2 | 4 | 1895-1898 |
| 3 | 5 | 1898-1903 |
| 3 | 6 | 1903-1909 |
| 4 | 7 | 1909-1913 |
| 4 | 8 | 1913-1917 |
| 5 | 9 | 1917-1921 |
| 5 | 10 | 1921-1925 |
| 6 | 11 | 1925-1929 |
| 6 | 12 | 1929-1933 |
| 7 | 13 | 1933-1939 |
| 7 | 14 | 1946-1950 |
| 8 | 15 | 1950-1959 |
| 8 | 16 | 1959-1967 |
| 9 | 16 | 1959-1967 |
| 9 | 17 | 1967-1972 |
| 10 | 18 | 1972-1977 |
| 10 | 19 | 1977-1980 |
| 11 | 20 | 1981-1984 |
| 11 | 21 | 1985-1987 |
Page Last Updated October 18, 2012.