Court case files/packages

By ancestrywithtaylor on Fri, 02/02/2024 - 17:35

Forums

Hi Elizabeth,

I ordered a circuit court case file from the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives and received an image copy of the original loose documents. The case is regarding the sale of the land of HK Myers deceased by his widow, Elizabeth Myers, and his infant heirs by their guardian, WA Brann.

I reviewed chapter 8 of E.E. and searched your website for other "loose paper" posts but am not feeling confident about my citation.

The archivist who emailed me the images gave this citation: 

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. Pendleton County Circuit Court Records, Myers v Myers, 1856. (Location B69/E1, Box 46, Package 144).

The first 10 pages of the package can be viewed at https://imgur.com/a/3y1xbut. They are in the original order.(It is 28 pages in all—too large to upload the entire file).

I want to cite the entire file like this:

  • Pendleton County, Kentucky, Circuit Court Case Files, package no. 144, Elizabeth Myers et al., 21 October 1856; Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort. 

but I know I need to also include the "Location B69/E1, Box 46." Should I do the following instead?:

  • Pendleton County, Kentucky, Circuit Court Case Files, Location B69/E1, Box 46, package no. 144, Elizabeth Myers et al., 21 October 1856; Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort. 

I'm questioning that placement because it seems that "Location B69/E1, Box 46" is the current location where it is held at Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, not the Pendleton County Circuit Court. 

Also, the archivist is calling it "Myers v. Myers," but this doesn't seem right. Can I just call it Elizabeth Myers et al.?

Now, moving on to another aspect regarding the citation of a specific document within the package. I'm unsure if I've gotten the dates right. Should I include the first 1856 to refer to the case? Then, name the specific item and its date?

Item 1:

  • Pendleton County, Kentucky, Circuit Court Case Files, Location B69/E1, Box 46, package no. 144, Elizabeth Myers et al., 1856, petition for sale of land, 21 October 1856; Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort. 

Item 2: 

  • Pendleton County, Kentucky, Circuit Court Case Files, Location B69/E1, Box 46, package no. 144, Elizabeth Myers et al., 1856, power of attorney, dated 20 November 1855 and filed 27 November 1855; Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort. [Was it even filed on 27 November 1855? Super confused about the date on this one.]

Item 3:

  • Pendleton County, Kentucky, Circuit Court Case Files, Location B69/E1, Box 46, package no. 144, Elizabeth Myers et al., 1856, bond of guardian, 25 October 1856; Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort.

 

Thanks so much for all of your help! (Also I was serious on Facebook... I want a signed copy of the 4th edition! haha)

Submitted byEEon Fri, 02/09/2024 - 11:25

Taylor, my apologies for not seeing this query when it came in.  (This release week for EE 4th edition has been a hectic one!)

The appropriate section of EE (3d ed. rev., which should be the edition you are using) is EE 8.19. There, notes 1 and 3 demonstrate citing a specific file within the case. Note 2 provides an example of citing the full case.

The following guidelines should answer your questions:

Name of case:

  • A court case always cites at least two parties: plaintiff and defendant, with a vs. or adv. separating them.
  • The full name of the case will include the full name of each party.
  • The short name of the case, will cite Surname vs. Surname.  
  • Either the plaintiff or the defendant may be multiple parties, in which case all are cited in the full name of the case.
  • The short form of the case may be just Onesurname et al. vs. Anothersurname.
  • We don’t identify a case as just One Person's Name et al. 

Date of case vs. date of document:

  • A court file typically consists of multiple documents and typically covers a span of years.
  • The court case is identified by the year the case ended. 
  • Each document therein will have its own date—typically a full date. 

Citing a document within a file.

  • When we cite an individual document, our citation should answer the basic Who, What, When, Where questions for that document.
  • We also have to provide the basic Who, What, When, Where info for the file in which the document appears.  
  • This applies where we’re citing a legal suit, a probate case, a pension file, or whatever.

Citing county-level records archived in a formal archive:

Yes. Given that you ordered this case file from the state archives, your phrase “Location B69/E1, Box 46, package no. 144” would logically be the “call” information used by that archive.  You might ask the librarian, if you are in doubt. More generally:

  • EE 3.1 (3r ed.) “Archival Arrangements” explains how these archives are organized.
  • EE 3.8 and 3.9 (3r ed.) demonstrate how a citation sentence is constructed for this type of material. Here, too, we use a layered citation; but a citation to archived manuscript will usually have more layers than a citation to image used online.