Jo Daviess County Circuit Court

City: Galena

County: Jo Daviess

State: Illinois

The Jo Daviess County Circuit Court was placed in the First Judicial Circuit upon its creation in 1827. In 1829, the General Assembly moved it in the Fifth Judicial Circuit, in 1835 they moved it to the Sixth Judicial Circuit, and in 1851 they moved it to the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit. Although Abraham Lincoln did not regularly practice in Jo Daviess County, he served as attorney in at least seven appeals from the Jo Daviess County Circuit Court to the Illinois Supreme Court.

"An Act Establishing Jo Daviess County," 17 February 1827, Revised Laws of Illinois (1827), 117-18; "An Act Supplemental to the Act, Entitled 'An Act Regulating the Supreme and Circuit Courts,' Approved January 19, 1829," 23 January 1829, Revised Laws of Illinois (1829), 51; An Act Dividing the State into Judicial Circuits; "An Act to Establish the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Judicial Circuits, and for Other Purposes," 12 February 1851, General Laws of Illinois (1851), 82; For Lincoln's cases in the Jo Daviess County Circuit Court, search "Jo Daviess County Circuit Court," Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org.