Inventory - MSS 106 - Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives - Library Guides at University of New Orleans

Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives

(Mss 106)

Inventory

Earl K. Long Library

University of New Orleans

May 2005

Summary

Size: ca. 2,730 linear feet

Geographic

Locations: Louisiana

Inclusive dates: 1813-1920

Summary: The Archives of the Supreme Court of Louisiana consist of manuscript files of cases appealed from lower state courts to the Supreme Court of Louisiana and bound volumes of Court records pertaining to the dockets and minutes of court sessions. Case files range in volume from several pages to thousands of pages. Rules required that the Court be provided with a complete transcript of lower court files and evidence; thus the case files include maps, surveys, printed briefs, and a host of other documentation.

Source: Deposit, 1979-2000

Access: 1. Open to research under regulations of Special Collections.

2. Records not to be removed from Special Collections without written permission of the Court.

3. Clerk of Court may withdraw records on deposit at any time.

Copyright: Physical rights are retained by the Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

Citation: Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

Historical Note

The Supreme Court of Louisiana holds the distinction of being the state’s highest court, or, as it is often called, the court of last resort in Louisiana. By order of the Court on November 4, 1976, its historical archives—defined as those records created from the Court’s inception in 1813, when Louisiana’s first state constitution became effective, through 1920—were deposited in the Earl K. Long Library at the University of New Orleans “to ensure their preservation and safety.”

The archives consist mainly of manuscript case files appealed from lower state courts to the Supreme Court of Louisiana. Occupying approximately 2,730 linear feet, case files range in extent from several pages to thousands of pages. Rules required that the Court be provided with a complete transcript of lower court files and evidence; thus the case files include maps, surveys, printed briefs, and a host of other documentation. Often these are the only extant copies, not only of appellate arguments and decisions, but also of records that originated with lower courts, for many lower-court copies have been lost to fire, theft, and age-related deterioration.

Case files include a small number of legal documents, dating between 1769 and 1812, which were used as exhibits or in transcripts, and dockets for some cases which were “unreported”, meaning that the opinion was not published in Louisiana Reports. Supplementing these case files are docket books, which serve as a sort of index to the case files, and minute books, which summarize particular cases and record the Court’s disposition of them.

In addition to the winter and spring sessions held in New Orleans, until 1894 the Supreme Court met elsewhere in the state during the summer and fall, at times in Opelousas, Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Monroe, Natchitoches, and Shreveport. Each location maintained its own docket-numbering system. Several times, coinciding with new state constitutions, one numbering system was discontinued and another was begun. Many case files, docket books, and minute books for Court sessions held outside New Orleans are missing. Since 1898 the Court has held its sessions only in New Orleans.

Research Tips

We are working on creating a complete database of all of the cases in our collection which will be useful for searching for individual names and case citations. In the meantime, there are many tools available to researchers for locating cases from this collection.

One of the easiest, which is available on most campuses, is LexisNexis Academic’s Legal Research. On the main page, click on “State Case Law,” then on “Louisiana”. Set the “Court” option to “Louisiana High Court” and the “Date” to any range between 1813-1920 to target our holdings. This offers keyword searching of the full-text of the opinions published in the various legal reports. You may also click the “Guided Search” tab to perform a more targeted search for combinations of terms or names in various sections of the record: Plaintiffs, Defendants, Judges, Citation, Headnotes, to name a few.

Researchers should note that not all of the court’s opinions were published. For example, if the judges applied well-established principles to a case with no novel facts, they did not bother to publish the opinion as it had no value as a precedent. But what is of little interest to the lawyer might be of great interest to the historian or anthropologist. The files of these “unreported” cases are a potential gold mine, but accessing them can be difficult as there is no published reference to them, other than the list of “Cases Not Reported” in the front of the annual legal reports after 1865. Besides the annual reports, researchers may consult the docket indexes to the New Orleans sessions to discover these cases involving individuals, companies or institutions from that portion of the state. Thomas C. Manning’s Unreported Cases Heard and Determined by the Supreme Court of Louisiana, from January 8, 1877, to April, 1880, Digested, Reported, and Condensed (St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1884), a copy of which is in the Dart Collection (Mss 140), is another useful source.

Researchers using the collection to study various historical and cultural topics should keep in mind that this is a collection of materials related to law and should familiarize themselves with the precise legal vocabulary used by the court. For example, historians interested in placage, the antebellum practice of white men keeping a black mistress, will not find any cases if they search for “placage” in LexisNexis. The appropriate legal term is “concubinage,” and a search using that word yields fifty-five cases where the term occurs before 1865. An excellent source for checking the terms you wish to search is any edition of William K. Dart and Edward F. White’s Louisiana Digest Annotated (1917; Second series, 1937; new 1951; the latter is in our Reference Collection KFL 57.L66), which gives case citations as well as cross-references to other useful terms. Another good source is West’s Louisiana Digest 1809 to Date (Reference Collection KFL 57 .L66).

Another very useful tool for finding case files that deal with portions of the state’s constitution or legislative acts is Theodore Roehl’s Annotations to the Statute Law of the State of Louisiana (New Orleans: F. F. Hansell & Bro., Ltd., 1917), a copy of which is in the Dart Collection (Mss 140). This breaks down the Civil Code, Code of Practice, Constitutions (1812-1913), and Acts of the Legislature (1822-1916) into their articles, sections, and acts, and lists the legal citations for all Supreme Court cases that deal with these individual components.

List of Series and Subseries

Series I. Case Files

1813-1846

I.A Eastern District (New Orleans), 1813-1846

I.B Western District (Opelousas; Alexandria), 1813-1846

I.C Baton Rouge, 1832-1836

1846-1860

I.D New Orleans, 1846-1860

I.E Alexandria, 1846-1860

I.F Monroe, 1846-1860

1861-1920

I.G New Orleans, 1861ff

I.H Opelousas, 1869-1894

I.I Monroe, 1869-1894

I.J Natchitoches, 1866-1869

I.K Shreveport, 1880-1894

Series II. Docket Books

II.A Docket Books

II.B Indexes

Series III. Minute Books

III.A New Orleans Sessions

III.B Other Sessions

Series IV. Miscellaneous Records

Series Descriptions

Series I. Case Files

1813-1920

Case files can consist of a few pages or several hundred. Generally they contain transcripts of the lower court proceedings, including testimony and evidence, copies of motions and briefs filed with the Supreme Court, and the opinions rendered by the justices.

The files are divided into three broad eras: 1813-1846; 1846-1861; and 1861-1920. Within those eras, the files are arranged according to the geographical location of the court session. Within each session, the files are arranged according to the docket number assigned by the clerk of that court.

The case files from the New Orleans sessions are the most complete; the others have gaps and many files missing. Materials that were too large to fit with the regular files are kept in separate “Oversize” boxes. The existence of these materials is usually noted on the individual case file folder.

Researchers should note that not all of the court’s opinions were published. The files for these “unreported” cases are included, but accessing them can be difficult as there is no published reference to them, other than the list of “Cases Not Reported” in the front of the annual legal reports after 1865. These cases are noted in our Supreme Court Database. Researchers may also consult the docket indexes to the New Orleans sessions to discover these cases involving individuals from that portion of the state. Thomas C. Manning’s Unreported Cases Heard and Determined by the Supreme Court of Louisiana, from January 8, 1877, to April, 1880, Digested, Reported, and Condensed (St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1884), a copy of which is in the Dart Collection (Mss 140), is another useful source.

We are currently working on a database of all the case files. In the meantime, finding a particular case file requires determining (a) the court session, (b) the date, and (c) the docket number. The court session and date are recorded in the printed opinions located using the legal citation for the decision (e.g. 5 Martin (O.S) 157; 9 Rob. 354; 16 La Ann 652) or LexisNexis. The docket number is found in the same printed information for cases reported after 1865. Finding a docket number for pre-1865 cases requires you to look up the legal citation for the case in the set of reports in our reading room to find the docket number written in pencil in the case heading.

Another very useful tool for finding case files is Theodore Roehl’s Annotations to the Statute Law of the State of Louisiana (New Orleans: F. F. Hansell & Bro., Ltd., 1917), a copy of which is in the Dart Collection (Mss 140). This breaks down the Civil Code, Code of Practice, Constitutions (1812-1913), and Acts of the Legislature (1822-1916) into their articles, sections, and acts, and lists the legal citations for all Supreme Court cases that deal with these individual components. This is particularly helpful for anyone doing research on a particular act or section of a constitution.

See Series IV for case files for the Court of Errors and Appeals, 1843-1846.

1813-1846

Subseries I.A: Eastern District (New Orleans), 1813-1846

Includes docket numbers 1-6124. See the entry for Subseries I.C, Baton Rouge, for cases moved there in the mid 1830s.

Subseries I.B: Western District (Opelousas; Alexandria), 1813-1846

Includes docket numbers 1-1369.

Subseries I.C: Baton Rouge, 1832-1836

Includes docket numbers 1-119. This was a special district carved out of the Eastern District (New Orleans) by act of the legislature in 1832. Pending cases appealed from the parishes of West Feliciana, East Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena, and Washington were transferred from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. After this session was abolished by another legislative act in 1836, these cases were returned to New Orleans.

1846-1860

Subseries I.D: New Orleans, 1846-1860

Includes docket numbers 1-6984.

Subseries I.E: Alexandria, 1846-1860

Includes docket numbers 1-364.

Subseries I.F: Monroe, 1846-1860

Includes docket numbers 19-857.

1861-1920

Subseries I.G: New Orleans, 1861ff

Processed cases include docket numbers 1-10,359.

Unprocessed records include docket numbers 10,360-25,059.

Subseries I.H: Opelousas, 1869-1894

Includes docket numbers 1-1492.

Subseries I.I: Monroe, 1869-1894

Includes docket numbers 6-1301.

Subseries I.J: Natchitoches, 1866-1869

Includes docket numbers 1-861.

Subseries I.K: Shreveport, 1880-1894

Includes docket numbers 1-384

Series II. Docket Books and Indexes, 1813-1898

Only the docket books and indexes for the New Orleans sessions exist. When a case was filed with the clerk of the court, it was assigned a sequential docket number and both parties were also listed in the indexes along with the docket number.

Subseries II.A: Docket Books, 1813-1898

Generally each page is divided into fourths, with one-quarter of a page devoted to each docket number. All transactions concerning the case were recorded here in chronological order, including: the original court and its docket number, documents filed (e.g. motions, briefs), hearings, judgments, and the charges for each transaction. Some lengthy cases required more space and a note at the bottom indicates which other docket number the case was continued under. These books can be used, among other things, to determine dates of court actions for newspaper research.

Subseries II.B: Indexes, 1826-1898

Individual cases were listed in the index under the first letter of the last name of both the appellee and appellant, with the case’s docket number listed in the left margin. Successions are usually listed under “S” (e.g. “Succession of E. B. Hardesty”) as well as the last name of the decedent (e.g. “Hardesty, E. B. Succession of”). Other cases involving the state as an agent or officials are not always consistent, and could be listed under the individual’s surname or title of the office (e.g. “State ex rel. Dellonde v. City School Board” is listed in under “S” and “C”). These indexes are useful for finding docket numbers for unreported cases as well as cases where the opinion has no number listed, or it is incorrect.

Series III. Minute Books, 1813-1922

These volumes record the daily activities of the court sessions in chronological order. Information concerning cases includes names, docket numbers, and actions taken. The court also entered important communications from federal and state officials, commissions, admissions to the Louisiana bar, memorials and other items deemed important.

Subseries III.A: New Orleans Sessions, 1813-1922

Includes Eastern District and New Orleans.

Subseries III.B: Other Sessions, 1813-1894

Includes Western District, Alexandria, Opelousas, Monroe, Natchitoches, and Shreveport.

Series IV. Miscellaneous Records, 1817-1894

These include opinion books, various administrative records, a docket summary for New Orleans, and the cases of the Court of Errors and Appeals.

Container List

Series I. Case Files, 1813-1920

Subseries I.A: Eastern District (New Orleans), 1813-1846

Boxes 1-314 Docket Nos. 1-6124

Boxes 1-18 Oversize

Subseries I.B: Western District (Opelousas; Alexandria), 1813-1846

Boxes 1-29 Docket Nos. 1-1369

Boxes 1-4 Oversize

Subseries I.C: Baton Rouge, 1832-1836

Boxes 1-7 Docket Nos. 1-119

Box 1 Oversize

Subseries I.D: New Orleans, 1846-1860

Boxes 1-482 Docket Nos. 1-6984

Boxes 1-54 Oversize

Subseries I.E: Alexandria, 1846-1860

Boxes 1-16 Docket Nos. 1-364

Box 1 Oversize

Subseries I.F: Monroe, 1846-1860

Boxes 1-2 Docket Nos. 19-857

Boxes 1-2 Oversize

Subseries I.G: New Orleans, 1861ff

Boxes 1-1003 Docket Nos. 1-10,359 (Processed)

Boxes 1-42 Oversize

Boxes 163-1120 Docket Nos. 10,360-25,059 (Unprocessed; boxes numbered by the Clerk of Court)

[See following document for location of individual boxes and case files]

Subseries I.H: Opelousas, 1869-1894

Boxes 1-24 Docket Nos. 1-1492

Box 1 Oversize

Subseries I.I: Monroe, 1869-1894

Boxes 1-60 Docket Nos. 6-1301

Boxes 1-21 Oversize

Subseries I.J: Natchitoches, 1866-1869

Boxes 1-2 Docket Nos. 1-861

Subseries I.K: Shreveport, 1880-1894

Boxes 1-13 Docket Nos. 1-384

Boxes 1-21 Oversize

Series II. Docket Books and Indexes, 1813-1898

Subseries II.A: Docket Books, 1813-1898

Docket No.		Start Year		End Year		Starting Docket No.	Ending Docket No.
1		1813		1823		1	861
2		1823		1831		862	2127
3		1831		1838		2128	3303
4		1838		1843		3304	5300
	5		1843		1846	5301	6124
			1846		1851	1	2000
6		1851		1857		2001	5427
	7		1857		1861	5428		6984
			1861		1866	1		1046
8		1866		1873		1047	4567
9		1873		1878		4568	7132
10		1878		1886		7133	9659
11		1886		1898		9660	12902

Subseries II.B: Indexes, 1826-1898

Docket Volume Nos.	Start Year	End Year	Start No.	End No.
2, 3, 4, 5	1826	1830	526	2000
2, 3, 4,	1830	1838	2001	3438
4, 5	1838	1843	3439	5300
5	6/29/1843	3/19/1846	5301	6124
5	3/20/1846	1/13/1851	1	2000
6, 7	1/13/1851	1/26/1861	2001	6984
7, 8	1/28/1861	11/9/1870	1	2999
8, 9	11/9/1870	4/13/1878	3000	7132
10	1878	1886	7133	9659
11	1886	1898	9660	12902
Duplicates
4	1838	1845	[3300]	[5980]
4, 5	1846	1846	[5982]	[6124]
4, 5	1846	1851	1	2000
6	1/13/1851	12/31/1857	2001	5427
8	11/5/1866	10/21/1869	1059	2339

Series III. Minute Books, 1813-1922

Subseries III.A: New Orleans Sessions, 1813-1922

Minute Books contain no index unless otherwise indicated.

Volume No	Starting Year	Ending Year
1(Index in front)	1813	1818
2	1818	1823
3	1823	1829
4	1829	1834
5	1834	1839
6	1839	1842
7	1842	1844
8	1844	1846
9	1846	1848
10	1848	1851
11	1851	1854
12	1854	1857
13	1857	1859
14	1859	1860
15	1860	1865
16	1865	1868
17	1868	1870
18	1870	1871
19	1871	1872
20	1872	1874
21	1874	1876
22	1876	1879
23	1879	1881
24	1881	1883
25	1883	1887
26	1887	1892
27	1892	1895
28	1895	1898
29	1898	1900
30	1900	1902
31	1902	1905
32	1905	1907
33	1907	1909
34	1909	1912
35	1912	1914
36	Missing
37	1917	1920
38	1920	1922

Subseries III.B: Other Sessions, 1813-1894

Minute Books contain no index unless otherwise indicated.

Volume	Seat	Starting Year	Ending Year
1 (Index in front)	Western District	1813	1843
2 (Separate index in front)	Alexandria	1843	1845
3	Alexandria	1846	1860
4	Monroe	1846	1858
5	Natchitoches	1866	1869
6	Shreveport A	1880	1894
7	Opelousas	1886	1894

Series IV. Miscellaneous Records, 1817-1894

Volumes (Placed after Minute Books)

New Orleans Indexes to Opinion Books (The actual books do not exist)

No. 16 May 24, 1847—March 13, 1848

No. 17 March 13, 1848—January 22, 1849

No. 18 [1849]

No. 19 June 6, 1849—May 20, 1850

No. 20 n.d.

Shreveport Opinion Book, 1880-1890

Opelousas Opinion Book, 1893-1894

New Orleans Summary Docket, 1875-1878

[Written in the back of the Alexandria Minute Book, 1846-1860, in Subseries II.B, Volume 3]

Files (Placed at end of Subseries III.A, Eastern District case files)

Box 314 Administrative Records, 1817-1846

Documents relating to admissions to the Louisiana Bar, requests for certified copies and other miscellaneous records. A complete inventory is contained in the front of the box.

Box 315 Court of Errors and Appeals, 1843-1846

Includes docket numbers 13-24. The Supreme Court had no jurisdiction over criminal cases before the Constitution of 1845. An act of the legislature on April 6, 1843, created this special court to consider appeals on questions of law in criminal matters, presided over by three district judges of the state. The opinions were printed in a separate section of the Supreme Court’s reports, beginning with 8 Rob. 513 through 8 Rob. 616, and are also available in LexisNexis. See 8 Rob. 512 for a brief description of the act and history of this special court.

Index Terms

Law—Louisiana

Supreme Court of Louisiana

MSS 106 - Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives: Inventory