Judges of the Kentucky Circuit Courts, 1831-1861

Abstract

For much of the nineteenth century, the circuit court judge was the law in the counties and small towns of Kentucky. Felonies and the most important civil matters all awaited his twice annual sessions at the county court house. With no criminal appeal allowed until just before the Civil War, the rulings of the circuit judge in matters of life and liberty were final. Despite the importance of these officials to the life of Kentucky, researchers seeking to find information about the men who held this office have had few readily accessible guides. This paper uses old almanacs and statute books to reconstruct a listing of the names of these jurists and the geographic boundaries of the circuits they rode.

Keywords: legal history, judges, Kentucky