Background:

Records of the proceedings and business of local courts, usually at the country level or lower in the United States or the equivalent in other countries, are occasionally published in full for use as primary legal source material but more frequently are transcribed, edited, indexed, and published in a format intended for use in genealogical and local historical research. This instruction sheet provides guidelines for classification of these records.

Procedures:

1. Determining the intent of the publication:

Examine the work being cataloged to determine whether it is intended to be used for genealogical and local historical research or as primary legal source material. Base this judgment of intent on the nature of the publisher, content of the introductory material if any, nature of the editing and indexing, etc. When intent is not clear, assume that it is for genealogical and local historical research.

In the absence of other information, assume that a collection of unedited court records issued by the court itself, by an official government agency, or by a legal publisher is intended as primary legal source material.

2. Classification

Class collections of local court records intended for local historical or genealogical research in the appropriate numbers for local history, or in CS. Class those intended as primary legal source material in the appropriate numbers in the K schedules.

See also:

Special Topics, Categories of Material, Etc.