Title:
M case files
Description:
Records are M case files of the Texas Supreme Court dating 1840-1892, representing the circuit court era. Records include original petitions (briefs, appeals), original indictments (criminal cases only for the early years), transcripts of proceedings from the district court, bills of exception, agreements, demurrer and answer, supplemental answers, statements of facts, testimony, judgments, motions, petitions and/or bonds for writ of error, citations in error, assignments of error, sheriffs' returns, certifications of costs, waivers of service, precepts, motions for rehearing, applications for extensions of time, certification of costs, and opinions of the lower court.In 1944, M numbers were assigned to the early case files because there had been several duplicate numbering systems in place. The original numbers can be found on the case files, in the dockets, and on the index cards. A significant number of the case files dating prior to 1853 were missing when these records were transferred to the State Archives. According to a letter from the court to an attorney requesting information about some old files (March 17, 1965, Carl B. Lyda to Attorney Hobart Hudson), many of the old Galveston and Tyler case files were destroyed by fire and flood before the records were transferred to Austin (transferred about 1892). The clerk also stated that other cases had been misplaced, lost, or had disappeared since their transfer. In the early 1970s, a large number of early cases from the 1850s-1860s era, mainly involving the sale or disposition of slaves, were stolen from the court. Some cases have been recovered through replevin efforts, almost all of them involving slave issues. Some of these are currently filed in boxes 201-7049 through 201-7051, but some have also been returned to the regular run of M case files. Unfortunately, many of the cases lost or stolen through the years are still missing.Case numbers not listed in the inventory are missing. Listed at the end of the inventory are a few partial cases that cannot be positively identified with an M case number.There are several occasions when the same M number was assigned to two different cases, usually cases filed within days of each other from different counties. For these cases a note in the finding aid will give the style of the case in addition to the case number. It is unknown why duplicate numbers were used.Since 2012, the M case files have been the focus of a comprehensive project that includes humidification, flattening, rehousing, indexing, and digitization of the case files. As of June 2018, this project is in process and anticipated to continue for several years. As a result, box numbers, especially within the approximate range of boxes 201-4010 to 201-4699 (case files M-2051 to M-11372), are actively shifting. Contact the project archivist or refer to the internal Supreme Court case files database for a full inventory of these case files and an accurate listing of box numbers.
Collection:
Texas Supreme Court records
Creator:
Texas. Supreme Court
Date range of creation:
1840 to 1892
Citation information:
(Identify the item), M case files, Case files, Texas Supreme Court records. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Arrangement:
These records are arranged numerically by case number.
Size or duration:
13,343.25 cubic ft.
TARO URL:
https://txarchives.org/tslac/finding_aids/20169.xml