California Superior Court (Sacramento County) records, ca. 1879-1970

Collection context

Summary

Creators:
California. Superior Court (Sacramento County)
Abstract:
The collection contains records created by the Sacramento County Superior Court from 1879 through circa 1970. The largest part of the collection consists of records related to civil and criminal cases, including case files, registers of action, judgments, and minutes. The collection also contains Juvenile Court minutes, juvenile commitments and claims, insane commitments and discharges, court calendars and journals, and other records. There is also a very small nunber of adoption records. The Superior Court was created in 1880 by provisions of the 1879 State Constitution. This court assumed the functions previously carried out by the District, Sessions, County, and Probate Courts. Cases are handled by one of four departments: criminal, civil, probate, and juvenile. Each county in California has its own Superior Court.
Extent:
1,291 Linear Feet, 169 Volumes, and 1,126 boxes
Language:
English and Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], California Superior Court (Sacramento County) records, CNTY0016, Center for Sacramento History.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains records created by the Sacramento County Superior Court from 1879 through circa 1970. The largest part of the collection consists of records related to civil and criminal cases, including case files, registers of action, judgments, and minutes. The collection also contains Juvenile Court minutes, juvenile commitments and claims, insane commitments and discharges, court calendars and journals, and other records. There is also a very small nunber of adoption records.

Biographical / historical:

The Superior Court was created in 1880 by provisions of the 1879 State Constitution. This court assumed the functions previously carried out by the District, Sessions, County, and Probate Courts. Cases are handled by one of four departments: criminal, civil, probate, and juvenile. Each county in California has its own Superior Court.

Acquisition information:
The collection was acquired from Sacramento County in 1976, 1978, 1989, and 1994 (accessions 1976/005, 1976/007, 1978/093, 1989/002, and 1994/037); the California State Archives in 1980 (accession 1980/132); and FamilySearch in 2022.
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 7 series:

Series 1. Civil case records, 1880-1965

Series 2. Criminal case records, 1879-1968

Series 3. Juvenile records, 1903-1959

Series 4. Insane commitment records, 1881-1956, ca. 1970

Series 5. Court calendars, journals, and daybooks, 1874-1932 Series 6. Adoption records, 1912-1914

Series 7. Other court records, 1880-1968

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research use, except Series 3 (Juvenile Court records) and Series 4 (Insane commitment records), which are closed to access and research per California Welfare and Institution Code. Material in those series can only be accessed by court order.

Terms of access:

All requests to publish or quote from private manuscripts held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], California Superior Court (Sacramento County) records, CNTY0016, Center for Sacramento History.

Location of this collection:
551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95811, US
Contact:
(916) 808-7072