Vermilion County Circuit Court

City: Danville

County: Vermilion

State: Illinois

When the Illinois General Assembly created Vermilion County in 1826, they placed its circuit court in the Fifth Judicial Circuit, and stipulated that it meet on the fourth Monday in May and November. In 1827, it was placed in the Fourth Judicial Circuit; in 1844, it was moved to the Eighth Judicial Circuit, where it stayed until 1861, at which point it was placed in the Twenty-Seventh Circuit. Abraham Lincoln tried over 100 cases in the Vermilion County Circuit Court.

"An Act Establishing Vermilion County," 18 January 1826, Laws of Illinois (1826), 50-53; "An Act to Amend an Act Constituting and Regulating the Supreme and Circuit Courts of this State, Approved December 29, 1824," 12 January 1827, Revised Laws of Illinois (1827), 118-19; Revised Statutes of Illinois (1845), 629; "An Act to Establish the Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit; to Declare What Counties Shall Compose the Eighth Judicial Circuit; and to Fix the Time of Holding Courts in Said Counties," 4 February 1861, Public Laws of Illinois (1861), 99; For Lincoln's cases in Vermilion County, search court name "Vermilion 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.