This collection contains records of the Sonoma County Municipal Court, under the jurisdiction of the Santa Rosa Judicial District, Sonoma County Central Judicial District and finally, Sonoma County Judicial District. Records include criminal and civil dockets, court trial minutes, etc.

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, twelve inferior courts with municipal or judicial township jurisdiction were designated by the Board of Supervisors to try civil and lesser criminal cases in the County. The County Court (also known as the Sonoma County Justice Court; more formally designated as the State of California's County Court for Sonoma County), served as referees for the Juvenile Court, among other duties involving minor offenses. The County 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 municipal and 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. The Santa Rosa Judicial District aborbed the Cotati-Rohnert Park area in 1964 and changed names to the Sonoma County Central Judicial District in 1965 when it was consolidated with the Redwood Judicial District, with the Court referred to as the Municipal Court for the Sonoma County Central District). The name later changed again to the Sonoma County Judicial District. The Northern Sonoma County Judicial District was consolidated with the Sonoma County Judicial District in 1971

3 volumes

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

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 to request they be brought from the Archives to the Library