Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Western District, Appeal Dockets: October Term 1879-October Term 1883, Indexed and October Term 1884-October Term 1889, Indexed., This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER LIBRARY: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education., The years 1795-1821, 1826-1855 are grouped numerically according to court term and number, and judicial district; the years 1821-1825 are grouped by court term and judicial district; the years 1855-1941 are arranged numerically by court term and number only. A record of appellate cases in the Supreme Court, Western District. Cases deal with issues under the Court's mandatory and discretionary jurisdiction. Cases falling within the Court's mandatory jurisdiction dealt with capital punishment, questions of constitutionality, finance and revenue, elections, and others. Cases falling within the Court's discretionary jurisdiction included cases where two intermediate courts had opposing decisions or cases that posed open questions of law, among others. Entries for each case list: the plaintiff (appellant) and defendant (appellee); the names of the attorneys appearing for the parties; the county and the lower courts from which the appellate cases arose; a chronological listing of the documents filed and proceedings held in the case; and the Court's subsequent decision or orders. Justices delivering the opinions are often noted, and from 1795 to 1836, the name of the prothonotary recording the case is entered. During the period 1894-1919, many of the dockets contain statistical summaries concerning the number and types of cases processed, and from 1930 to 1941, penciled notations are found that refer to the published cases and opinions of the Supreme Court in the Pennsylvania State Reports. A reference number that indicates when the case was recorded as having been argued in the Court Minute Books appears from 1935 onwards. Disclaimer: Not all records in this series are digitized. Please visit the PA State Archives to see the rest of the collection.
