Introduction to Joseph Smith’s Illinois Legal Cases
Introduction to Joseph Smith’s Illinois Legal
Cases
Following JS’s mid-April 1839 escape from
state custody, he joined the main body of the
Latter-day Saints in . Between 1839 and
1844, JS was involved in approximately 130 legal cases in Illinois
as a judge, plaintiff or complainant, defendant, witness, or
interested third party.
He heard 77 of these cases as judge of the , Illinois,
mayor’s court and chief justice of the Nauvoo Municipal Court. The
remaining cases dealt with various civil and criminal matters and
were heard by and in the Illinois court system, as well as
by the federal courts in the state.
Relevant Courts in Illinois
When was admitted to the Union as a state in 1818, it
adopted a legal system with local justices of the peace,
county-level circuit courts, and a state supreme court. Justices of the
peace served as the base of the state’s tiered court system.
Qualified voters elected multiple justices of the peace in each
county to serve four-year terms. These
justices generally lacked formal legal training; however, they were
respected members of their community. Illinois
law authorized them to preside over
trials for minor crimes committed within the county such as , but for most
crimes they held preliminary examinations to determine whether there
was sufficient evidence to send a case to trial before the
county-level circuit court. Illinois law also granted justices
authority to hear civil suits for unpaid debts not exceeding
$100. In addition, justices heard
cases dealing with personal property for damages not exceeding
$20.
Appeals of decisions rendered by justices of the peace were heard by
the circuit court.
In 1841, the legislature divided the state into
nine judicial circuits, each of which covered several counties. The
legislature appointed one professional judge to preside over each
circuit. The judge rotated through his circuit, holding court in
each county twice a year. Circuit courts held trials for criminal
offenses allegedly committed in the county. In addition, circuit
courts were authorized to hear civil suits under common law and for debts over $20 and personal wrongs. Circuit
judges were also permitted to issue writs of to review the legality of detentions. The
nine circuit judges sat together as the Illinois Supreme Court,
which sat twice annually in the state capital to hear appeals and
was the court of final jurisdiction in the state.
In the 1830s, the legislature began
incorporating cities and permitting these municipalities to operate
city courts and exercise other powers. In 1840, the legislature passed
an act, commonly known as the , that
incorporated the city of . The act indicated that the mayor and the would serve as justices of the peace within the
city’s limits, with the same jurisdiction over minor criminal and
civil matters as regularly elected justices. The Nauvoo charter
authorized the city council to pass that were deemed “necessary for the peace,
benefit, good order, regulation, convenience, and cleanliness, of
said city.” The charter specified that ordinances could not be
“repugnant” to the constitution of the or of the state
of Illinois. The mayor, along with the aldermen, operated courts
that were tasked with prosecuting those accused of breaching the
city ordinances.
The charter also created the Municipal
Court, which was composed of the mayor as chief justice and the city
aldermen as associate justices. The charter did not explicitly grant
the municipal court original jurisdiction over alleged breaches of
city ordinances. However, beginning in 1841 the Nauvoo City Council
began passing ordinances that granted concurrent jurisdiction to the
mayor and the municipal court. In addition, the charter gave the municipal
court “power to grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases arising
under the ordinances of the City Council.” In 1842, the Nauvoo City
Council passed a series of ordinances that expanded the court’s
habeas corpus jurisdiction to include alleged violations not only of
city ordinances but also of and federal laws.
These habeas corpus ordinances further granted the court power to
make final determinations of guilt or innocence. The charter also authorized the municipal
court to hear appeals “from any decision or judgment” rendered by
the mayor’s or aldermen’s courts “arising under the city
ordinances.”
The federal government also operated courts in . District courts functioned as the base of the
federal judicial system. A single judge presided over the court,
which had jurisdiction over most federal crimes committed within the
district, as well as suits in which the sued for
repayment of debts. In 1819, Congress created a district court for
the state of Illinois, which held two annual terms in the state
capital. Circuit courts composed the next level of the
federal system and could hear appeals from district courts as well
as try some federal criminal and civil cases. In 1837, Congress
divided the United States into nine judicial circuits, each of which
covered multiple districts. The United States Circuit Court for the
District of Illinois was included in the seventh circuit. A justice
of the United States Supreme Court was assigned to each circuit,
holding court twice a year with the judge of each district.
Both district and circuit courts were authorized to issue writs of
habeas corpus.
JS’s Illinois Cases
Three of JS’s best-known
legal cases in stemmed from crimes allegedly
committed in . After JS and the Saints established
themselves in in 1839,
Missouri officials attempted to have JS apprehended and to answer charges related to the 1838 conflict
between the Saints and their antagonists. JS was arrested in June
1841, but after appearing on a writ of habeas corpus before Judge
in the
Warren County, Illinois, circuit court,
he was discharged on the grounds that the warrant was invalid. The
following year, Missouri officials again sought JS’s extradition,
this time for allegedly being an to the May 1842 shooting of former governor . After going into
hiding to avoid arrest in late summer and fall, JS appeared before
the Circuit Court
for the District of Illinois in January 1843 on a writ of habeas
corpus. Judge discharged JS on the
grounds that the evidence supplied by the Missouri government was
insufficient to justify the extradition. Finally, in June 1843
Missouri officials again sought JS’s extradition to answer an
indictment charging him with committing in 1838. On 1 July 1843, the Nauvoo Municipal
Court discharged JS on a writ of habeas corpus “on the merits of the
case.”
Most of JS’s cases, however, stemmed from events that
occurred in Illinois. As documented in the Joseph
Smith as a Judge finding aid, JS presided over
seventy-seven known cases in the
mayor’s court and the municipal court between his appointment as
mayor in May 1842 and his murder on 27 June 1844. In the mayor’s
court, JS adjudicated both minor criminal cases under Illinois
statutes, as a justice of the peace, and alleged breaches of city
ordinances, with his authority as mayor. JS also heard minor civil
disputes between Nauvoo residents as a justice of the peace. In the
municipal court, he presided over alleged breaches of city
ordinances, appeals from individuals convicted in the mayor’s or
aldermen’s court, and habeas corpus proceedings for prisoners held
by state and federal authority.
During the early 1840s JS was also involved in significant
civil litigation in . In September 1840, he and other
Latter-day Saints purchased a steamboat from the federal government
for $4,866.38, providing a as
payment. They intended to use the boat to ferry church members and
others for a fee on the .
After operating for only about a month, however, the pilots crashed
the steamboat on a sandbar, severely damaging it. The loss of the
boat resulted in multiple lawsuits in the 1840s, as JS and the other
signatories attempted to recoup their losses and in turn were sued
for unfulfilled obligations. In addition, federal
officials in 1842 sued JS and the other signatories in the District Court
for the District of Illinois on the note to collect payment,
resulting in a judgment against them.
Aside from these financial cases, conflict with antagonists resulted
in additional civil litigation. During the attempt to have him
apprehended and extradited to in 1843, JS sued the arresting officers for
false imprisonment and personal injury. When the case came to trial
at the May 1844 term of the ,
Illinois, circuit court, a jury awarded him $40 in damages. Simultaneously in the , Illinois,
circuit court, JS’s critics sought to overwhelm him with litigation,
bringing six civil suits against him. Most of these suits, which
targeted JS in his capacity as mayor and judge in , were still
pending at his death on 27 June 1844.
Conflict with antagonists also resulted in several criminal cases.
JS filed complaints in courts
accusing multiple individuals of violating city ordinances by
threatening or otherwise harming him. At the May 1844 term of the
Circuit Court,
a grand jury approved two indictments against JS—for adultery and
fornication and for —based on testimony
from former Latter-day Saints and other opponents. The following
month, on 10 June, the Nauvoo City Council, which included JS as
mayor, declared the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper
operated by his antagonists, a nuisance and ordered its destruction.
One of the Expositor’s proprietors, , filed a
complaint before a Hancock County justice of the peace accusing JS
and other Latter-day Saints of committing when they destroyed the Expositor’s
press. When vigilantes threatened to attack Nauvoo, JS called out
the and declared martial law
in the city on 18 June. Evidently based on this action, , one of JS’s
critics, filed a complaint before a justice of the peace alleging
that JS had committed treason, a nonbailable offense that confined
him to the Hancock County jail in at the time of his murder.
Information regarding litigation brought against JS’s estate following his death may
be found in The
Estate of JS.