In December 1830, JS dictated a revelation commanding
the fledgling church to relocate from to . JS arrived with his family in , Ohio, in early 1831; he would reside
in the state for the next seven years. During JS’s time
in Kirtland, he was involved in nearly fifty lawsuits as a
plaintiff/complainant, defendant, witness, or interested third
party. Most of these cases dealt with unpaid financial obligations,
although a few resulted from entanglements with JS’s antagonists in
Ohio. These cases were heard by as well as the county-level courts of common
pleas.
Relevant Ohio Courts
Justices of the peace constituted the lowest level of ’s tiered court system. Qualified voters in each township
elected justices for three-year terms. Justices of the peace held
limited jurisdiction within their counties over , but for most
crimes, justices could conduct only preliminary examinations to
determine whether there was sufficient evidence against the accused
to send the case to trial before the court of common pleas. Civilly, justices were authorized to hear
disputes for debts up to $100. Losing parties were permitted to
appeal justices’ decisions, under certain conditions, to the court
of common pleas.
In accordance with the Constitution of 1802, the
state was divided into circuits composed of multiple counties, with
a professional judge who presided over the court of common pleas in
each county. The state legislature appointed the presiding judge,
along with associate judges who were assigned to specific counties,
to seven-year terms. Rotating through the circuit, the court of
common pleas met in each county in three terms per year. The court
held “complete criminal jurisdiction” within its counties, as well
as jurisdiction over civil suits for debts larger than $100 in
common law and . The state supreme court was
composed of four justices; it held jurisdiction over all crimes,
could adjudicate civil suits for debts larger than $1,000, and could
hear appeals from courts of common pleas.
JS’s Ohio Cases
While in , JS and other church leaders sought
to build up as a “,” centered at the
, which they
completed and dedicated in March 1836. In their efforts to build
, in the mid-1830s JS and other church leaders formed
multiple firms or partnerships that operated mercantile stores in
Kirtland and , Ohio.
The firms purchased thousands of dollars in inventory from wholesale
merchants in on credit, using assuring repayment in the future,
usually three to six months later. Church leaders hoped to make the
required payments by selling the goods they had purchased. In
November 1836 church leaders also established a community bank, the
, in an
effort to strengthen the local economy. The society was funded in
part by stockholders and in part by loans from other financial
institutions. By January 1837, JS and other church leaders were
unable to get a state charter for the Kirtland Safety Society, so
they decided to restructure it as an unchartered banking
company.
A nationwide economic downturn in 1837 dashed the
Latter-day Saints’ financial ambitions in . During the ensuing financial crisis,
creditors across the
turned to the courts to collect debts and thereby “created an untold
volume of litigation.” When the -area firms failed to pay their promissory notes
to merchants on time, those in possession of the notes
hired lawyers to pursue debt litigation in the , Ohio, court of
common pleas, which resulted in JS being named as a
defendant in dozens of suits. As a plaintiff, JS
sought to collect small debts on behalf of the Kirtland-area firms
before Kirtland justices of the peace. In
addition, civil proceedings were brought against JS and based on an Ohio statute that banned
unchartered banks. In at least two cases, JS signaled his
intent to appeal a court of common pleas decision to the state
supreme court, although documentation for these appeals, if they
were indeed filed, has not been located.
Although the vast majority of JS’s nearly fifty cases in
were civil in nature, he was involved in four criminal prosecutions.
In 1834, JS accused , a former Latter-day Saint, of threatening his
life. The case originated before a justice of the peace and culminated before the
Court of Common
Pleas, which upheld JS’s allegation. Another Ohio antagonist, , brought an assault
and battery charge against JS in 1835 following an altercation
between JS and his brother-in-law .
Two years later, Newell alleged that JS had threatened to take his
life. Geauga County justices of the peace held preliminary
examinations to evaluate these allegations and in each case sent
them to the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas for trial. The court
of common pleas acquitted JS in both cases brought by Newell. In September
1837, JS filed a complaint accusing constable Abram Ritch of “unlawful oppression by ” based on an unknown incident. After
hearing testimony against Ritch, justice of the peace discharged Ritch for lack of
evidence.
In early 1838, JS relocated from
to . He authorized agents to settle his
debts and answer remaining lawsuits in Ohio, some of which continued
into the 1840s. For more
information on litigation against JS’s estate in Ohio, see The
Estate of JS.