Arranged in series: Original suit records, 1813-1846; Minute books, 1838-1846; General docket books, 1839-1842; Indexes to general docket books, 1836-1846; Execution docket book, 1842-1859; Judgment docket book, 1837-1854; Judicial record book, 1832-1834; and Deed books, 1838-1846.

Created by act of the Louisiana Legislature in 1813, the court had geographical jurisdiction over the First Judicial District of the State, including Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charle s, and St. John the Baptist Parishes. When Jefferson Parish was created out of Orleans in 1825, it too was placed within the First Judicial District. At the outset the court had both civil and criminal original jurisdiction as well as jurisdiction in appeals from the Parish Courts in its constituent parishes (excepting Orleans, whose appeals went directly to the Louisiana Supreme Court).

In 1818 the Court's criminal jurisdiction was given to a new Criminal Court of the City of New Orleans which, in the following year, was enlarged to cover the entire district. Originally the C ourt had one judge, learned in the law, and appointed by the Governor. In 1826 a second, junior, judge was added by act of the Legislature. When a new judicial system was established in 1846, the parishes of the original First Judicial District were reorganized as follows: St. Bernard and Plaquemines became the Second District; Jefferson, the Third; and St. Charles and St. John, part of the Fourth. Orleans remained as the only parish in the First Judicial District, with five separate courts of various civil and criminal jurisdictions. Orleans Parish suits still pending in the First Judicial District Court in 1846 were transferred to the new Fifth District Court.

Deposited by the Civil District Court in 1974. Included are manuscript records of individual suits filed before the Court. Each suit record includes all or some of the following documents: petitions, citations, orders, answers, judgments, and exhibits (such as transcriptions of testimony, letters, inventories, copies of other documents, etc.). Existing inventories of these record s suggest that approximately 15% are missing. The Genealogical Society of Utah has microfilmed the "genealogically significant" suit records; copies are available in the City Archives and through the LDS Family History Library. An index to the suit records is in progress.

Also included are bound manuscript volumes (minutes, dockets, indexes, etc.) which serve as "finding aids" or supplements to the original suit records. The minute books and deed books (v. 1-3) are also available on microfilm, as arethe indexes to general docket books. See also the separate Register of Naturalizations. First Judicial District Court, also available on microfilm.

Return to Archival Inventories.