California Third District Court of Appeals records, 1909-1922

Finding aid author: Mark Cooper.
Published by the Sonoma County Library
Published Feb 28, 2011
Sonoma County Library
6135 State Farm Drive
Rohnert Park, CA 94928

Sonoma County District Court of Appeals records, 1909-1922

Sonoma County Library

Overview of the Collection

Collection Title: California Third District Court of Appeals records,
Date (inclusive): 1909-1922
Identification: SCG.00052
Creator: California. District Court of Appeals (1st Appellate District)
Physical Description: 11 volumes
Language of Materials: English
Repository: Sonoma County Library Archives
c/o Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library, Sonoma County Library
725 Third Street
Santa Rosa, CA,
Abstract: This collection contains reporters' transcripts and related papers for cases brought before the Third District Court of Appeal between 1909 and 1922.

Court History

Biography/Organization History

The California Constitution originally made the Supreme Court the only appellate court for the whole state. As the state's population skyrocketed during the 19th century, the Supreme Court was expanded from three to seven justices, and then the Court began hearing the majority of appeals in three-justice panels. The Court became so overloaded that it frequently issued summary dispositions in minor cases, meaning that it was merely saying "affirmed" or "reversed" without saying why.[7] The state's second Constitution, enacted in 1879, halted that practice by expressly requiring the Court to issue every dispositive decision in writing "with reasons stated." In 1889, the Legislature authorized the Supreme Court to appoint five commissioners to help with its work.
Despite implementing all these measures, the Supreme Court was no longer able to keep up with the state's rapidly growing appellate caseload by the end of the 19th century. Accordingly, in 1903, the Legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to create what were then called the District Courts of Appeal. On November 8, 1904, the electorate adopted the amendment.
The district Courts of Appeal originally consisted of three appellate districts, headquartered in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, with three justices each. These first nine justices were appointed by the Governor. Each district was assigned an ordinal number (i.e., first, second, and third).
In 1966, the word "District" was dropped from the official names of the Courts of Appeal by another constitutional amendment which extensively revised the sections governing the state judiciary. This left Florida as the sole state in the United States with "District Courts of Appeal." Since then, each of the Courts of Appeal has been named officially as "the Court of Appeal of the State of California" for a particular numbered appellate district. ( California Courts of Appeal (Wikipedia, retrieved July 10, 2019)
Prior to court redestricting, Sonoma County was part of the 3rd District, but is currently in the 1st District.

Access Terms

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

Corporate Names

California. Court of Appeal (3rd District)
California. Court of Appeal (3rd District)--Archive

Topical Terms

Crime--California
Crime--California--Sonoma County
Criminal law--California--Sonoma County--Cases
Criminal law--California--Cases
Legal briefs--California
Legal briefs-- California-- Sonoma County
Justice, Administration of--California--History-- Sources
Justice, Administration of--California--Sonoma--History--Sources
Court records--California--Sonoma County
Courts--California
Courts--California--Sonoma County
Judgments--California
Judgments--California--Sonoma County

Genre and Format Terms

Criminal court records
Dockets
Registers (lists)
Minutes (administrative records)
Judicial records
Archival materials

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

Conditions of Use

Collection does not circulate and may be photocopied or photographed by arrangement only.

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:

California Third District Court of Appeals records, 1909-1922. SCG.00052, Sonoma County Archives, Sonoma County Library, Rohnert Park, California.

Scope and Contents

Court records for five case apppearing in California's Third Distrcit Court of Appeals.

Arrangement of the collection

Organized into five series:
  1. People of the State of California vs W.P. Burke. District Court of Appeal - reporter's transcript, 1909-1911
  2. People of the State of California vs. W.A. Cockrill and S. Ikada, 1922
  3. People of the State of California vs. Frank Bergotini, 1914
  4. People of the State of California vs. B. Bettini - reporter's manuscript, 1911
  5. People of the State of California vs. E.S. Rowland - District Court of Appeal transcript, 1909

 

SCL Special Collections Control Number: SCG.00052.01
Series 1. People of the State of California vs W.P. Burke. District Court of Appeal - reporter's transcript 1909-1911

Note:
Series content list:
1909-1911 : ARCHIVES CABINET 38 : Volume 1 : Accession 2778
1909-1911 : ARCHIVES CABINET 38 : Volume 1 (Book 2 of 2) : Accession 2779
1909-1911 : ARCHIVES CABINET 38 : Volume 2 : Accession 2780
1909-1911 : ARCHIVES CABINET 38 : Volume 3 : Accession 2781
1909-1911 : ARCHIVES CABINET 38 : Volume 4 : Accession 2782
1909-1911 : ARCHIVES CABINET 38 : Volume 5 : Accession 2783
 

SCL Special Collections Control Number: SCG.00052.02
Series 2. People of the State of California vs. W.A. Cockrill and S. Ikada 1922
Accession no: 2786

Note:
Cabinet 38
Physical Description:
Extent: 1 volume

Scope and Contents

Partial Index
 

SCL Special Collections Control Number: SCG.00052.03
Series 3. People of the State of California vs. Frank Bergotini 1914
Accession no: 2785

Note:
Cabinet 38
Physical Description:
Extent: 1 volume

Scope and Contents

Partial index
 

SCL Special Collections Control Number: SCG.00052.04
Series 4. People of the State of California vs. B. Bettini - reporter's manuscript 1911

Scope and Contents

Partial transcript of specific sections.
 

SCL Special Collections Control Number: SCG.00052.05
Series 5. People of the State of California vs. E.S. Rowland - District Court of Appeal transcript 1909
Accession no: 2784

Note:
Cabinet 38
Physical Description:
Extent: 1 volume

Scope and Contents

Not a complete index.  Index is for specific sections only.