Pike County Circuit Court

City: Pittsfield

County: Pike

State: Illinois

The Illinois General Assembly placed Pike County in the First Judicial Circuit in 1821. In 1835, the General Assembly moved Pike County to the Fifth Judicial Circuit. In judicial reorganizations in 1839 and 1841, the General Assembly returned Pike County to the First Judicial Circuit. In 1847, the General Assembly moved it back to the Fifth Judicial Circuit, where it remained up and through the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln and his partners participated in a dozen cases in Pike County Circuit Court.

"An Act Changing the Terms of the Circuit Courts and Altering the Circuits," 14 February 1821, Laws of Illinois (1821), 157-59; An Act Dividing the State into Judicial Circuits; An Act Dividing the State into Judicial Circuits; An Act to Establish Circuit Courts; An Act Fixing the Time of Holding the Circuit Courts in the First Judicial Circuit; "An Act Extending the Limits of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, and Fixing the Times of Holding Courts Therein," 5 February 1847, Laws of Illinois (1847), 43; For Lincoln's cases, search under Court Name, "Pike 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.