Santa Rosa Justice Court and Santa Rosa Judicial District Court records, 1906-1955

Finding aid author: Mark Cooper.
Published by the Sonoma County Library
This work is licensed by Sonoma County Library under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Published Feb 28, 2011
Sonoma County Library
6135 State Farm Drive
Rohnert Park, CA 94928

Santa Rosa Justice Court and Santa Rosa Judicial District Court records, 1906-1955

Sonoma County Library

Overview of the Collection

Collection Title: Santa Rosa Justice Court and Santa Rosa Judicial District Court records,
Dates: 1906-1955
Identification: SCG.00027
Creator: California. Justice Court (Santa Rosa) California. Municipal Court (Santa Rosa Judicial District)
Physical Description: 55 volumes
Language of Materials: English
Repository: Sonoma County Library Archives
Sonoma County Library
6135 State Farm Drive
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
Abstract: This collection contains records that provide details on the operations of the Santa Rosa Justice Court and its successor, the Santa Rosa Judicial District Court. Includes the justice docket (i.e., criminal justice docket) for the court between 1906-1955 (titles of volumes in the justice docket vary).

Court History

Biography/Organization History

Prior to June 1998, California's trial courts consisted of Superior and Municipal courts, each with its own jurisdiction and with its number of judges fixed by the Legislature; prior to 1951, the Petaluma Justice Court was one of twelve such inferior courts in the County. The Justice Court (also known as the Santa Rosa Justice's Court; more formally designated as the State of California's Justice Court for Santa Rosa), had jurisdiction over the City of Santa Rosa and surrounding area of central Sonoma County, California.
The Santa Rosa court, like other justice courts, was an inferior local tribunal for the adjudication of minor causes and the preservation of the peace. By the Act of March 16, 1850, which divided up the state into judicial districts, "the term of office of a justice of the peace was fixed at one year. Two justices were allowed to each township, also two constables, the officers who serve the processes of the court. The jurisdiction of a justice extended to the limits of the township for which he was elected. He had cognizance of actions on contract, for damages, and to recover specific property, when the amount or value did not exceed $200. In 1851, his powers were considerably increased. He had jurisdiction of actions to recover money, for damages to personal property, for fines, penalties and forfeitures, actions on bonds, enforcement of lien on personal property, actions to recover personal property and judgment by confession, where the amount in all these cases did not exceed $8,500, and on a bond taken by him if the amount did exceed that sum, cases of forcible entry and detainer, and the trial of the right of mining claims. The criminal jurisdiction embraced vagrancy, disorder, petty larceny, assault and battery, breaches of the peace, and all misdemeanors punishable by a fine of not more than $500 and not more than one year's imprisonment. In 1863, forcible entry and detainer cases were transferred to the county court, and the civil jurisdiction was reduced to amounts not exceeding $300. In 1870, the jurisdiction of cases of misdemeanor was extended to fines of $1,000 and imprisonment for one year: but in 1874 it was reduced to fines of $500 and six months' imprisonment. In 1863, the term of office of justices and constables was increased to two years. The new constitution preserved the justice courts as before." (source: Wells, Harry Laurenz, 1854-1940. History of Butte County. San Francisco : H. L. Wells, 1882.)
The Santa Rosa Justice Court was reorganized in 1952 as part of the State of California's inferior court reorganization program authorized by the voters as California Proposition 3 in 1950, which combined the offices of the township justices of the peace and city police court judges; the Santa Rosa Justice Court and other, local municipal courts were combined as the Santa Rosa Judicial District Court, or more formally, the State of California's Municipal Court for the Santa Rosa Judicial District on Jan. 1, 1952.
A number of other reorganizations and consolidations of the County's District Courts took place over the next four decades until the District Courts and other inferior courts were absorbed into the Superior Court following another voter-authorized reorganization in 1998, California Proposition 220.

Scope and Contents

Official documents.

Access Terms

This Collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Topical Term:

Criminal justice, Administration of -- California -- Santa Rosa

Important Information for Users of the Collection

Conditions Governing Access:

Materials stored offsite, but collection is open to research. In many cases, further details on individual volumes can be found by calling staff at the Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library. To view these materials, please call staff at 707 308-3212 to request they be brought from the Archives to the Library

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with the Sonoma County Library. The Sonoma County Library has made this collection available and believes that the collection is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Collection may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Preferred credit line is: Courtesy, the Sonoma County Library. Please see additional reproduction and reuse information at https://sonomalibrary.org/locations/sonoma-county-history-and-genealogy-library/order-photo

Preferred Citation:

Santa Rosa Justice Court and Santa Rosa Judicial District Court records, 1906-1955. SCG.00027, Sonoma County Archives, Sonoma County Library, Rohnert Park, California.

Arrangement of Materials:

Arranged chronologically in a single series.

Scope and Contents

Official records.

 

SCL Special Collections Control Number: SCG.00027
Criminal docket 1906-1955

Physical Description:
Extent: 55 volumes

Scope and Contents

22 August 1906 - 7 September 1955