Judiciary Branch Records

The Judiciary Branch Records collection dates from 1839 to 1970 and totals over 561.88 linear feet. As described by the Records of the Judiciary Branch Finding Aid:

The bulk of the records are case files and minute books in the form of writs, petitions, orders, decrees, and judgments which document the many ways in which the Judiciary exercised the judicial power of government to interpret and apply the law. In addition, there are administrative records, including jury lists, court calendars, applications to practice law, appointments of district magistrates and circuit court judges, commissions and oaths of judicial officers, and court activity reports which document the routine functioning of the Judiciary.

Punawaiola presents the following curated digitized collection which contains a total of 5 files with 674 individual files. Because of the size of the Judiciary Records collection, we selected Series 241 (Records of the Clerks of the Supreme Court and First Circuit Court), and Series 242, (Civil and Criminal Minute Books of the Second Circuit) as an initial starting point.

The Records of the Clerks of the Supreme Court and First Circuit Court contain administrative records which include “reports from court appointed administrators, daily journals, calendars, dockets, court transcripts, petitions, ledgers, day books, account books, notary public books, Supreme Court decisions, and various court documents filed with the court clerks. Oaths of district court judges, jury commissioners, and attorneys may also be found.”

With regard to Series 242, we digitized one example of a Second Circuit Criminal Minute Book. The Finding Aid explains that “Minute book entries contain court date, defendant and plaintiff names, names of attorneys representing the defendant and plaintiff, court proceedings, judgments, sentencing in criminal cases, and appeals.”

Please click on the following links to access this digitized collection.

Series 241: Records of the Clerks of the Supreme Court and First Circuit Court
  • Records of Clerks of SC and 1st CC - Admin Records, 1848
  • Records of Clerks of SC and 1st CC - Admin Records, 1884
  • Records of Clerks of SC and 1st CC - Admin Records, 1898
  • Records of Clerks of SC and 1st CC - Stats Reports 1876-1892
  • Records of Clerks of SC and 1st CC - Stats Reports 1894-1906

  • Series 242: Civil and Criminal Minute Books of the Second Circuit
  • 242-2 Civil and Criminal Minute Books of 2d CC, Judge John Richardson, July 1852-December 1853