Series 1481
Supreme Court Utah Reporter

Dates: 1851-

11.00 cubic feet and 10 microfilm reelsSkip to Containers

These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.

Historical Note

An agency history is available.

Scope and Content

The volumes in this series are comprised of the published editions of the decisions of the Utah Supreme Court. A record of the decisions is maintained in order to document the previous decisions and opinions of the Court to allow for consistency and stability in the State's judiciary. Past decisions of an appellate court may be invoked as precedent for deciding in a particular manner. The decisions of the Court will show the names of the parties to the case, identifying the plaintiffs, defendants, appellants, and appellees; the Supreme Court case number; the date of the decision; the text of the decision; and cross-references to other legal sources as necessary. Some of the volumes are labeled as containing the Rules of the Supreme Court. These volumes are identified in the container list.

Volume one of the series was published by A. L. Bancroft & Co. in San Francisco in 1877. This volume covers the time period from the establishment of the Territory of Utah to 1876, with the first case reported being an appeal of an 1855 Third District Court decision.

Subsequent volumes of Utah Reports were published by Callaghan and Company in Chicago prior to 1928, except for volumes four and five, which were published by Tribune Printing and Publishing Company in Salt Lake City. From 1928 to 1953, Utah Reports was published by Arrow Press in Salt Lake City. In 1953, West Publishing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, took over publishing the official reporter. The 1953 change in publishers resulted in the volume numbers beginning again at one. To distinguish between the early and later volumes, those published by West Publishing are identified as the second series.

In 1974, West Publishing changed the format of Utah Reports and changed the name to Utah Reporter. New volumes at that date start with volume 520, the numbering sequence changed to correspond to the numbering of the regional Pacific Reporter publication; the jump from vol. 30 to vol. 520 is not a gap. The Utah Reporter since 1974 remains in the custody of the agency.

Arrangement

Chronological by date of decision.

Research Note

For records later than those in Archives holdings, consult any law library. Reading Legal Citations: Formal citations to legal reporters have three parts, including the title of the case, the reporter reference, and the date. In order to locate information in the reporter, you must have either the reporter reference or the title and date. The reporter reference will directly indicate the volume and first page number of the decision. If the title and year are known, a researcher can look through the volumes of the reporter for the year in which the decision was delivered. In the front of each volume of the reporter will be a list of cases reported. By browsing this list, a researcher may determine whether or not a case is in the particular volume and the page on which it starts if it is in that volume. Full citations to this material may fit any of the following forms: People v. Moroni Green , 1 Utah 13 (1855). When broken down, this citation tells us that the Utah Supreme Court decided a case entitled People v. Moroni Green in 1855. The text of this decision may be found in volume 1 of the 1st series of the Utah Reporter, beginning on page 13. Salt Lake City v. Utah Lake Farmers Association, 4 Utah.2d 14 (1955). The 1955 decision cited here may be found beginning on page 14 of volume 4 of the second series of Utah Reports.

Related Records

Opinions from the Supreme Court, Series 1487, is the unpublished form of the opinions.

Utah Advance Reports from the Supreme Court, Series 17662.

Minute book indexes from the Supreme Court, Series 25936, includes the officially published opinions of the court.

Registers of actions from the Supreme Court, Series 25937, contains the officially published opinions of the court.

Registers of actions indexes from the Supreme Court, Series 25938, contains the officially published opinions of the court

Record of opinions books from the Territorial Supreme Court, Series 25939, contains the official, published version opinions issued by the Supreme Court.

Minute books from the Supreme Court, Series 25964, contains the published opinions of the Utah Supreme Court.

Docket from the Territorial Supreme Court, Series 25972, contains the earliest published opinions of the Utah Supreme Court, many of which were issued by justices whom appear in this docket book.

Access Restrictions

This series is classified as Public.

Preferred Citation

Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

Gaps in Series

There are no gaps in the microfiche copy of the series. The bound copy contains all 123 volumes of the first series, and miscellaneous volumes of the second series.

Processing Note

This series was processed by Paul G. C. Smith in May 1996. Prior to that, the series had been microfiched. The decision was made to retain the original and the microfiche due to the unique value of these records in documenting the history and development of the Utah legal system. The decisions are valuable and worthy of preservation given the emphasis in common law systems (including Utah's) on state decisions, the principle that the previous decision of a court should be a guide to a current decision, thus letting the old decision stand unless there is a compelling reason to reverse it.

Finding Aids

Indexes: Kinney's Index-Digest for the first 25 volumes of the series is available in the Archives Research Center, covering from 1851 thru 1903.

Indexing Terms

  • Laws--Utah--Supreme Court.
  • Courts of last resort--Utah.
  • Law reports.
  • Court records--Utah.
  • Judicial opinions.

Container List

FICHE-BOX BOX VOLUME DESCRIPTION
1 1 1 1851-1876; 5 fiche
1 1 2 1877-1880; 7 fiche
1 1 3 1881-1884; 6 fiche
1 1 4 1884-1886; 7 fiche
1 1 5 1886-1888; 8 fiche
1 1 6 1889-1890; 6 fiche
1 1 7 1890-1891; 7 fiche
1 1 8 1892-1893; 7 fiche
1 1 9 1893-1894; 7 fiche
1 1 10 1894-1895; 7 fiche
1 1 11 1895; 7 fiche
1 1 12 1895-1896; 7 fiche
1 2 13 1896; 7 fiche
1 2 14 1896-1897; 7 fiche
1 2 15 1896; 7 fiche
1 2 16 1897-1898; 7 fiche
1 2 17 1898-1899; 7 fiche
1 2 18 1898-1899; 7 fiche, numbering error: no #5
1 2 19 1899; 7 fiche
1 2 20 1899; 7 fiche
1 2 21 1899-1900; 7 fiche
1 2 22 1900; 7 fiche
1 2 23 1900-1901; 8 fiche
1 2 24 1901-1902; 8 fiche
1 3 25 1902-1903; 7 fiche
1 3 26 1903; 7 fiche
1 3 27 1903-1904; 7 fiche
1 3 28 1904-1905; 7 fiche
2 3 29 1905-1906; 7 fiche
2 3 30 1905-1906; 6 fiche
2 3 31 1906-1907; 7 fiche
2 3 32 1906-1907; 7 fiche, Rules
2 3 33 1907-1908; 7 fiche, Rules of Practice
2 3 34 1908; 7 fiche
2 3 35 1908-1909; 8 fiche
2 3 36 1909; 8 fiche
2 4 37 1909-1910; 8 fiche
2 4 38 1910-1911; 7 fiche
2 4 39 1911; 7 fiche
2 4 40 1911-1912; 8 fiche
2 4 41 1912; 8 fiche
2 4 42 1912-1913; 8 fiche
2 4 43 1913-1914; 8 fiche
2 4 44 1913-1914; 8 fiche
2 4 45 1914-1915; 8 fiche
2 4 46 1915; 8 fiche
2 4 47 1915-1916; 8 fiche
2 4 48 1916; 8 fiche
2 5 49 1916-1917; 8 fiche
2 5 50 1917; 8 fiche
2 5 51 1917-1918; 8 fiche
2 5 52 1918; 8 fiche
2 5 53 1918-1919; 8 fiche
2 5 54 1919; 8 fiche
3 5 55 1919-1920; 8 fiche
3 5 56 1920; 8 fiche
3 5 57 1920-1921; 8 fiche
3 5 58 1921; 8 fiche
3 5 59 1921-1922; 8 fiche
3 5 60 1922; 8 fiche
3 6 61 1923; 8 fiche
3 6 62 1922-1923; 8 fiche
3 6 63 1923-1924; 8 fiche
3 6 64 1924-1925; 8 fiche
3 6 65 1925; 8 fiche
3 6 66 1925-1926; 8 fiche
3 6 67 1926; 8 fiche
3 6 68 1926; 8 fiche
3 6 69 1926-1927; 8 fiche
3 6 70 1927; 8 fiche
3 6 71 1927-1928; 8 fiche
3 6 72 1928; 8 fiche
3 7 73 1928-1929; 8 fiche
3 7 74 1929; 8 fiche
3 7 75 1929-1930; 8 fiche
3 7 76 1930; 8 fiche
3 7 77 1930-1931; 8 fiche
3 7 78 1931; 8 fiche
3 7 79 1931-1932; 8 fiche
4 7 80 1932; 8 fiche
4 7 81 1932-1933; 8 fiche
4 7 82 1933; 8 fiche
4 7 83 1933-1934; 7 fiche
4 7 84 1934; 8 fiche
4 8 85 1934-1935; 8 fiche, Rules of the Supreme Court
4 8 86 1935; 8 fiche
4 8 87 1935; 8 fiche
4 8 88 1935-1936; 8 fiche
4 8 89 1936; 8 fiche
4 8 90 1936; 8 fiche
4 8 91 1936-1937; 8 fiche
4 8 92 1937; 7 fiche
4 8 93 1937-1938; 7 fiche
4 8 94 1938; 7 fiche
4 8 95 1938; 7 fiche
4 8 96 1938-1939; 7 fiche
4 8 97 1939; 7 fiche
4 9 98 1939-1940; 7 fiche
4 9 99 1940-1941; 7 fiche
4 9 100 1941; 8 fiche, Rules of the Supreme Court
4 9 101 1941-1942; 7 fiche
4 9 102 1942-1943; 8 fiche
4 9 103 1943; 7 fiche
4 9 104 1943; 7 fiche
4 9 105 1943; 7 fiche
5 9 106 1943-1944; 7 fiche
5 9 107 1944-1945; 7 fiche
5 9 108 1945; 7 fiche
5 9 109 1945-1946; 7 fiche
5 9 110 1946; 8 fiche
5 9 111 1946-1947; 7 fiche
5 9 112 1947-1948; 7 fiche
5 10 113 1948; 7 fiche
5 10 114 1948-1949; 7 fiche
5 10 115 1949; 7 fiche
5 10 116 1949; 7 fiche
5 10 117 1949-1950; 7 fiche
5 10 118 1950; 8 fiche
5 10 119 1950-1951; 8 fiche
5 10 120 1951; 8 fiche
5 10 121 1951-1952; 7 fiche
5 10 122 1952-1953; 8 fiche
5 10 123 1953; 8 fiche
5 10 1 1953-1954; 6 fiche only
5 10 2 1954; 6 fiche only
5 10 3 1954-1955; 6 fiche
5 10 4 1955-1956; 6 fiche
5 11 5 1956; 6 fiche only
5 11 6 1956-1957; 6 fiche only
5 11 7 1957-1958; 6 fiche only
5 11 8 1958-1959; 6 fiche only
5 11 9 1959; 6 fiche
5 11 10 1959-1960; 6 fiche
6 11 11 1960-1961; 6 fiche only
6 11 12 1961-1962; 6 fiche only
6 11 13 1962; 6 fiche
6 11 14 1962-1963; 6 fiche
6 11 15 1963-1964; 6 fiche only
6 11 16 1964-1965; 6 fiche only
6 11 17 1965-1966; 6 fiche only
6 11 18 1966-1967; 6 fiche only
6 11 19 1967; 6 fiche
6 11 20 1967-1968; 6 fiche
6 11 21 1968; 6 fiche only
6 11 22 1968-1969; 6 fiche only
6 11 23 1969-1970; 6 fiche only
6 11 24 1970; 6 fiche only
6 11 25 1970-1971; 6 fiche
6 11 26 1971; 6 fiche
6 11 27 1971-1972; 6 fiche only
6 11 28 1972; 6 fiche only
6 11 29 1972-1973; 6 fiche only
6 11 30 1973-1974; 6 fiche only

Page Last Updated October 18, 2012.