Fourth Judicial Circuit (Illinois)

State: Illinois

When Abraham Lincoln entered the Illinois General Assembly in December 1834, the Fourth Judicial Circuit consisted of Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Iroquois, Lawrence, Vermilion, Wabash, Wayne, and White counties. The circuit spread from east-central Illinois to the bottom third of the state along the Wabash River, bordering Indiana.

In a realignment of the state's judicial circuits in 1835, the General Assembly removed Effingham and Iroquois counties from the Fourth Judicial Circuit and added Jasper County; and in 1841, it removed Champaign County and added Richland County.

"An Act Supplemental to the Several Acts Regulating the Supreme and Circuit Courts of This State,” 16 February 1831, Laws of Illinois (1831), 45; “An Act Regulating the Terms of Holding the Circuit Courts in this State,” 2 March 1833, Revised Laws of Illinois (1833), 165; “An Act to Organize the County of Effingham,” 20 December 1832, Private Laws of Illinois (1832), 23; An Act Dividing the State into Judicial Circuits; An Act to Establish Circuit Courts; An Act for the Formation of the County of Richland.