St. Louis Circuit Court Historical Records Project

These case files consist of civil, criminal, and chancery (equity) actions filed in the St. Louis Circuit court, its predecessors, and subsidiary courts (such as the Criminal Court, the Court of Common Pleas, the Land Court, the Law Commissioner's Court). Some of the oldest documents in the case files date from as early as 1787.

Case files can include originals or copies of documents from inferior courts, such as justices of the peace, that were transferred to the Circuit Court on appeal or by writ of certiorari.

The bulk of the case files involve civil suits brought by ordinary men and women pursuing justice in disputes over debts, damages, and broken promises, including divorce, alimony, and child custody. Criminal case files dealing with theft, destruction of property, slander, and murder are also well represented. Chancery cases are less numerous but dealt with injunctions and with the equitable distribution of property such as in divorces, land partition, and business partnership cases. The chancery distinction was abolished in the early 1850s, and those cases were styled as equity. 

Case files may include the following documents: handwritten petitions and answers filed by attorneys, affidavits, writs of summons or subpoena, witness depositions, promissory notes, assignment of notes and debts, accounts, motions, orders, verdicts, and appeals, maps and drawings, newspaper clippings, or advertisements. Some documents may be written in French, Spanish, or German. 

Many of the cases do not include the verdict, judgment, or final resolution of the case; however this information can be found in the corresponding indexed record books, which give a daily account of the proceedings in the court. 

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