A separate
Generally, case files include a number of discrete documents. These documents may include an initiating petition, summons and subpoenas issued to the parties in the case and to witnesses and potential jury members, bonds, exhibits, statements of fees, and other documents created and filed with the Court during the process of the trial action. Criminal cases may also include grand jury indictments, jury verdicts, and orders of commitment to the penitentiary. Civil cases may include affidavits of publication of summons in those cases where the defendant was not served personally, as well as decrees detailing the disposition of the case. Appeals may include the transcript of the proceedings of the lower court. Some early cases include copies of the minutes of the proceedings.
This series also includes items that are not case files as such, but individual documents filed with the court. For example, affidavits of slave ownership or other matters may have been filed with the court and are represented in this series. Occasionally documents such as travers jury subpoenas were at some point separated from the case file, and where identification of those records could not be made, the document is filed separately. Grand juries often were called quarterly to handle multiple cases before the court, and documents related to the quarterly grand jury proceedings which could not be identified as belonging to a specific case are filed together. Individual pieces of correspondence which are not related to a case file before the court may also be included as a separate file.
Divorces make up the largest portion of these case files. Prior to 1878, Utah Territory had one of the most liberal divorce laws in the United States and did not require residency in order to obtain a divorce within the territory. A simple statement that the married couple could not live in peace and union together was sufficient grounds for the granting of a divorce decree. As such, once the establishment of the railroad system provided regular access to the territory in 1869, the Probate Court handled many divorces for persons who could not meet the stricter laws regarding the granting of divorces in their home states. In 1878, the territorial Legislature changed the law to require residency, thereby decreasing significantly the number of divorces handled by the Probate Court.
For civil case files filed prior to 1872, case dates are based on the clerk's or judge's filing date written on the complaint. If that is not available, the filing date of the initiating petition as recorded in the minutes is used. If neither of those dates are available, the date used is either the date the complaint was signed, or the date of the first surviving document filed with the court. For criminal cases filed prior to 1872, dates are based on when the indictment was presented to the court, if that date can be determined. If the date of the indictment is not apparent, or if no indictment was filed, the date of the initiating complaint is used or the date of the first surviving document filed with the Probate Court.
For the most part, case files are not complete pictures of the case. Many motions and judgments that today would be represented by a separate document were only recorded in the minutes. In many instances, the disposition of the case was not kept as a distinct document and so cannot be found in these files. Some of the documents filed may not have survived, so the user is advised to consult
To use the index, the researcher might find it helpful to know some of the procedures used in the creation of the index. For example, the spelling of certain names was not always consistent throughout the documents in the files. Generally the manner of spelling was chosen from the person's signature if available. If the signature was not available, the most commonly-used form was taken for the index. Given the inconsistencies in spelling, researchers may find it helpful to search the electronic version of the index for a first name if the party for whom they are searching had an uncommon first name. Corporate names are in the surnames field, and for those persons with unknown portions of their name, the relevant field is left blank.
The title field is used with names which include a designation such as Sr., Jr., or Mrs. It is also used for those cases in which a party is acting as an agent, trustee, estate executor, or in an official government capacity such as assessor or sheriff. The title field is frequently used with company names for "doing business as" (dba) in those cases where both the name of the company and each individual partner are entered separately as parties to the case.
Case file types were determined by what the documents themselves are labeled. Some exceptions include those terms that are not in common modern usage and are not particularly descriptive of the case type. For example, many documents are labeled as being "bills in chancery." Those case types were modified to describe the issue involved, such as property or land title disputes. Many dept collection and replevin cases were labeled "in assumpsit demand" and those too have been modified to a more descriptive term. Other cases do not include a specific criminal charge or civil case. For those cases the field for case type was left blank, or a case type was chosen which would be the term most commonly used for other cases involving similar issues.
The field for opposing party contains only the last name of individuals. In cases in which the opposing party consists of two persons, the field contains both of their names (e.g. Jones & Smith). In the case of more than two opposing parties, the field includes the name of the first one listed on the complaint followed by an et al (e.g. Jones et al). When the opposing party consists of a partnership or business followed by the partners' names, only the business name is listed in the field.