Santa Barbara County Court records, 1850-1908
Online content
Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Santa Barbara County (Calif.). Superior Court
- Abstract:
- The Santa Barbara County Court records contain over 2,300 court cases beginning with California statehood through the first decade of the 20th century. The variety of court cases represented span legal proceedings from debt settlement to probate to murder. The plaintiff and defendant names documented in these cases are a Who's Who of notable Santa Barbara Californios and early American settlers.
- Extent:
- 34 Linear Feet – 2,329 files in 34 record storage boxes
- Language:
- English and Although primarily in English, the earliest court cases are in Spanish owing to Santa Barbara citizens' gradual transition from a Latin culture-based interpersonal style of dispute resolution to a more prescribed form of American litigation.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of file], Santa Barbara County Court records, AR-1949-001, Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum, Santa Barbara, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Santa Barbara County Court records contain over twenty-three hundred (2,300) individual court cases beginning with California statehood through the first decade of the twentieth century. The cases are organized in one large chronological series by date. The variety of court case represented span legal proceedings from debt settlement to probate to murder. The plaintiff and defendant names documented in these cases are a Who's Who of notable Santa Barbara Californios and early American settlers.
- Biographical / historical:
-
As mandated by the California Constitution, each of the 58 counties in California has a superior court. The original California Constitution of 1849 and the California Judiciary Act of 1851 created multi-county district courts of general jurisdiction which supervised county courts and justice of the peace courts of limited jurisdiction.
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 materials were acquired from Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
- Processing information:
-
The Santa Barbara County Court records were processed by Kathi Brewster, Brigitte Forssell, and Andrée Steele from 1990-1992. Steele, a retired French attorney, and Brewster, a retired Santa Barbara paralegal, and Forssell, all multi-lingual, translated the early Spanish language cases during the processing cycle. A copy of Barron's Law Dictionary was employed. Additionally, four green metal boxes of original plaintiff and defendant index cards were checked against all physical case files and received new cards or corrections as necessary.
- Arrangement:
-
The Santa Barbara County Court records are organized into one large chronological series by date.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Complaints (Administrative procedure)
County courts
Court records
Depositions
Indictments
Judgments
Legal petitions - Names:
- Aguirre, José Antonio, 1793-1860
Bard, Thomas Robert, 1841-1915
Canfield, Robert B. (Robert Bage), 1843-1929
Cook, I. N., 1827-1894
Dibblee, Thomas B. (Thomas Bloodgood), 1823-1895
Dibblee, Francisca de la Guerra, 1849-1931
Eddy, William M., 1826-1904
Fernald, Charles, Judge (Charles Heald), 1830-1892
Guerra, Francisco de la, 1817-1878
Guerra y Noriega, José de la, Don (José Antonio), 1779-1858
Hollister, W. W., Col. (William Welles), 1818-1886
Kellogg, Frank (Franklin Erwin), 1851-1923
Kimberly, Martin M. (Martin Morse), 1826-1878
Lobero, Giuseppe "Jose", 1823-1892
More, Thomas W. (Thomas Wallace), 1826-1877
Norway, W. H. (WIlliam Henry), 1834-1900
Oreña, Gaspar, 1824-1903
Ott, Adam, 1847-1919
Sexton, Joseph, 1842-1917
Storke, C. A. (Charles Albert), 1847-1936
Thompson, Alpheus Basil, 1797-1869
Thompson, Dixie W., 1826-1903
Trenwith, George F., 1849-1913
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights reside with the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head Archivist of the Gledhill Library.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of file], Santa Barbara County Court records, AR-1949-001, Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum, Santa Barbara, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
136 E. De La GuerraSanta Barbara, CA 93101, US
- Contact:
- (805) 966-1605 x105