Tazewell County Circuit Court

City: Tremont, Pekin

County: Tazewell

State: Illinois

Upon Tazewell County's creation in 1827, the Illinois General Assembly placed it in the First Judicial Circuit. In 1839, the legislature moved it to the newly-created Eighth Judicial Circuit. It remained part of the Eighth Judicial Circuit until 1857, during which time Abraham Lincoln served as an attorney in over 200 cases in the court as he traveled the circuit. In 1857, the General Assembly placed it in the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit.

"An Act Creating the County of Tazewell," 31 January 1827, Revised Laws of Illinois (1827), 113-15; "Changing the Terms of the Supreme and Circuit Courts of this State, and for Other Purposes," Revised Laws of Illinois (1827), 120; An Act Dividing the State into Judicial Circuits; For Lincoln's cases in the Tazewell County Circuit Court, search "Tazewell 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), https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Search.aspx; "An Act Establishing the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit," 7 February 1857, Laws of Illinois (1857), 8-9.