Series 6381

District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County) Miscellaneous case files

Dates: 1940-1992.

20 microfilm reels

These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.

Historical Note

An agency history is available.

Scope and Content

The case files are a collection of all documents and actions filed with the court clerk in connection with individual court actions. They provide documentation of the proceeding from initial filing through disposition or dismissal. Such papers and actions include petitions, notices, and applications initiating the court action, waivers and documents consenting to extradition, depositions relating to cases pending in out-of-state courts, inquests into the deaths of Salt Lake County residents, relinquishment of newborn children for adoption, releases signed by unmarried, pregnant women agreeing to a financial settlement and freeing the alleged fathers from further financial responsibility, court-ordered sterilization of mentally retarded individuals, letters, transcripts, exhibit documents, subpoenas, notices, invitations to judges of other district courts to sit in Third District Court, requests to appoint individuals as a judge pro temporein order to perform a marriage ceremony for friends, and judge's orders or decrees including approval of newspapers for publication of legal notices, approval to dispose of accumulated evidence, and an order sealing adoption orders.

Records and documents pertaining to a particular action are filed together by the court clerk, who is required by the Rules of Civil Procedure to file pleadings and other legal papers. Collectively they constitute the case file. Case numbers are assigned by the court when papers are initially filed with the clerk. The case files document the legal process and the administration of justice in conjunction with miscellaneous cases that do not involve a hearing and generally need only the formality of a judge's signature for approval and thus take up little judicial time. Ex parteproceedings are common. These records are distinguished from series 1622, CIVIL CASE FILES (1896-present), which involve disputed cases wherein issues are more complex and proceedings more protracted.

Arrangement

For records created from 1925 to 1977, arrangement is Chronological by initial filing date..

Since the addition of an alphanumeric prefix in 1977 (the letter "M", designating it as a miscellaneous case file, combined with a two-digit number indicating the year the action was begun), the arrangement has been chronological by calendar year, thereunder numerical by consecutive case number, i.e., M77-142. Documents within individual case files are arranged chronologically by filing date. Cases were originally arranged chronologically by initial filing date. As documents were filed, an entry was made in the MISCELLANEOUS FILE REGISTERS OF ACTIONS. As a reference, the volume and page number of the entry was then noted on the document filed. Several distinct cases generally appear on each page with all cases bearing the same volume and page number.

Research Note

Researchers should first consult the finding aids to determine the case number or volume and page number.

Related Records

Civil case files from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 1622, where formerly designated miscellaneous cases were integrated with the civil case files beginning in 1993.

Miscellaneous case files (restricted) from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 14156, contains those cases sealed by court order or otherwise restricted.

Miscellaneous civil and criminal file registers of actions from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 14157, record the filing of the original documents with the court clerk and serves as an index to the case files.

Court case indexes from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 14158, serve as an alphabetic index to the miscellaneous case files.

Court case indexes from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 14159, serve as a numeric index of the miscellaneous case files.

Tax commission case files from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 14160, generated by the State Tax Commission were alternately filed with the miscellaneous case files and the tax commission case files.

Custody History

The Salt Lake County Clerk was constitutionally designated as ex-officioclerk of Third District Court in and for Salt Lake County until 1989 when the state assumed full financial and administrative responsibility for the district court. At that time a new court clerk was appointed. The county/district court clerk first transferred a few miscellaneous cases to the state archives in 1968 while the district court clerk transferred another 24 cubic feet in 1992.

Access Restrictions

This series is classified as Public: UCA 63G-2-301 (1) (f) provides that judicial records are public unless restricted by the rules of criminal or civil procedure.

Preferred Citation

Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

Gaps in Series

Missing are cases from February 1977 to January 1980, with the exception of one case from 1978 and eight cases from late 1979.

Processing Note

Case files were designated as a permanent record by Records Disposition Request 67-8, which also authorized microfilming and destruction of the original records. The records retention policy of the Utah Judicial Council reprinted in the 1983 state retention schedule first specified a nine-year retention before microfilming. Microfilming for reference use was done in 1973 and 1998. These records were archivally processed by W. Glen Fairclough, Jr., in 1994.

Finding Aids

Indexes: An alphabetic index is found at the beginning of each volume of the REGISTER OF ACTIONS, Series 14157, covering from 1925 thru 1977. Indexes: The miscellaneous case files are indexed alphabetically by COURT CASE INDEXES, Series 14158, covering from 1977 thru 1988. Indexes: The miscellaneous case files are indexed numerically by COURT CASE INDEXES, Series 14159, covering from 1977 thru 1988.

Indexing Terms

• Court records--Utah--Salt Lake County.

Container List

REEL	DATE	DESCRIPTION
1	1963-1969	No case numbers
1	1974-1977	No case numbers
1	1925-1962	1-44 to 1-168
2	1949-1961	2-91 to 2-130
3	1962	2-131 to 2-147
4	1963-1966	3-13 to 3-151
4	1968-1969	No numbers, book 4
4	1966	4-1 to 4-11(cont)
5	1966-1969	4-11(cont) to 4-79(cont)
6	1969-1970	4-79(cont) to 4-89
7	1969-1973	5-1 to 5-124
8	1973-1974	5-125 to 5-191
9	1974-1976	5-192 to 5-265
10	1976-1977	5-266 to 5-310
10	1977	77-1 to 77-155
10	1978	78-79
10	1979	79-169 to 79-217
10	1979	79-218 to 79-223
10	1980	80-2 to 80-97
10	1981	81-1 to 81-50
11	1981	81-51 to 81-91
11	1982	82-1 to 82-49
12	1982	82-50 to 82-75
13	1982	82-76 to 82-136
13	1983	83-1 to 83-23(cont)
14	1983	83-23(cont) to 83-130
15	1983	83-131 to 83-166
15	1984	84-1 to 84-88
16	1984	84-89 to 840122
16	1985	85-1 to 85-89
17	1985	85-90 to 85-147
17	1986	86-1 to 86-51
17	1986	86-52 to 86-70(cont)
18	1986	86-70(cont) to 86-152
18	1987	87-1 to 87-51
19	1987	87-52 to 87-152
19	1988	88-1 to 88-50
20	1988	88-51 to 88-140