Series 17825
District Court (Fourth District) Civil and criminal registers of actions

Dates: 1878-1896.

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

Historical Note

An agency history is available.

Scope and Content

Records and documents pertaining to a particular civil or criminal action are filed together by the court clerk and collectively these documents constitute the case file. As these records or actions are filed, the clerk enters them in the registers which comprise this series. Criminal registers became a separate series in 1889. The Fourth District Court was created in 1892 from the Northern Division of the First District Court; the Northern Division included Box Elder, Cache, Morgan, Rich, and Weber Counties. Court normally convened in Ogden, Weber County. Until 1880, these counties were part of the Third District Court. The registers were retained as they transferred from district to district.

A register of actions may contain the following entries for each case: name of the attorney for plaintiff and defendant, name of the judge presiding over the case, petitions, complaints, summons, answers to summons, orders from the court, assignment of judges, exhibits, judgment, findings and conclusions, costs, decrees, requests by attorneys for instructions to the jury, verdict, motions for cross complaints or new trials, amendments to previous answers, and disclaimers.

Arrangement

Numerical by case number, thereunder chronological

Research Note

Researchers should consult this series to ensure finding all the actions which occurred in a case. They may also want to check records of all the district courts to which the counties belonged over time.

Related Records

Northern division civil and criminal case files from the District Court (First District), Series 1529, contain the entire case file listed in these registers.

Criminal case files from the District Court (Fourth District), Series 1629, contain the entire case file for later criminal cases listed in these registers.

Plaintiff's index from the District Court (Fourth District), Series 1666, provide an alternate way to obtain a desired case number

Minute books from the District Court (Fourth District), Series 5062, document the proceedings of each case.

Criminal registers of actions from the District Court (Fourth District), Series 17462, contain copies of pages pulled from this series.

Criminal case indexes from the District Court (Second District : Weber County), Series 17463, facilitate access to this series.

Plaintiff index from the District Court (First District), Series 21018, also cover the later territorial period.

Civil case indexes from the District Court (Second District : Weber County), Series 21933, facilitate access to this series.

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.

Processing Note

Registers of Actions were first scheduled in 1983 as permanent records. This series was archivally processed by David Clark in June 2000 and updated in 2002.

Finding Aids

Indexes: Series 21933, Civil Case Indexes, 1878-1916, provides access to this series,. Indexes: Series 17463, Criminal Case Indexes, 1879-1947, provides access to this series,.

Indexing Terms

  • Divorce suits—Utah.
  • Post-conviction remedies—Utah.
  • Utah—Trials (Divorce).
  • Utah—Actions and defenses—Cases.
  • Utah—Criminal courts.
  • Utah—Habeas corpus.

Container List

REEL VOLUME DESCRIPTION
1 A 1-47; Dec 9, 1878-Feb 12, 1880
2 A 1-499; Mar 11, 1880-Mar 8, 1884
2 B 500-1099; Mar 8, 1884-Jan 15, 1887
2 C 1100-1999; Jan 17, 1887-Jan 19, 1889
3 D 2000-3929; Jan 19, 1889-May 31, 1892
4 E 3930-4999; Jun 1, 1892-Feb 12, 1894
5 F 5000-5928; Feb 12, 1894-Jan 3, 1896

Page Last Updated October 18, 2012.