Following JS’s election as
mayor of , Illinois, on
19 May 1842, he served as a judge in two courts in the city’s
judicial system—the mayor’s court and the municipal court. According to
the act incorporating the city of Nauvoo, also known as the , the mayor’s court held limited
jurisdiction over alleged violations of state statutes, minor civil disputes, and
breaches of city ordinances. The municipal court heard appeals from
the mayor’s and city ’s courts and also
issued writs of . Like most other local judges in the nineteenth century, JS lacked formal legal training.
However, consistent with comparable lay magistrates, he was a
well-respected member of his community, and he performed his duties
by referencing state statutes, city ordinances, and legal treatises
such as William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of
England. He consulted with local attorneys and others
well versed in the law, and he drew upon his own experiences with
the legal system. Between his election as mayor and
his death on 27 June 1844, JS presided over approximately sixty-five
cases in the mayor’s court and twelve in the municipal court,
totaling seventy-seven cases—more than one-third of the total number
of cases he was involved in.
Records for only thirty-seven cases for which JS was the judge—twenty-five in the
mayor’s court and twelve in the municipal court—are apparently
extant. The gap in surviving documentation in the mayor’s court
record coincides with the transition from to
as the court’s clerk. Sloan served as clerk from July 1842 through
February 1843, during which time JS presided over eighteen cases in
the mayor’s court. Sloan recorded entries in the
mayor’s court docket book and produced case files for each of them.
Following the legislature’s disincorporation of
in 1845, these
court records were preserved with other city records by church
clerks. Between Phelps’s
February 1843 appointment as mayor’s court clerk and JS’s June 1844
death, JS heard approximately forty-seven cases.
Documents for only seven of these cases are apparently extant. The
remaining cases are known primarily from references in JS’s journal,
as discussed herein.
By contrast, the records of the municipal court during JS’s tenure as chief justice were
well preserved in a docket book and in case files, first by and then by his successor as municipal court clerk,
.
Mayor’s Court: Violations of State
Statutes
According to the charter, the
mayor served as a , with
limited jurisdiction over violations of state statutes that
allegedly occurred within the city’s boundaries.
Under law, justices of the peace could
preside over trials for and similar crimes, with authority to make final
determinations of guilt or innocence, but for most criminal
offenses, justices were authorized only to hold preliminary
examinations to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to
send the case to the circuit court for trial. During his tenure as a justice of the peace,
JS is known to have tried four
defendants for violating state statutes. Docket entries and case
files have survived for three of those cases, each heard during ’s tenure as clerk.
The charter
authorized the mayor, acting as a justice of the peace, to hear
minor civil suits within the boundaries of the city, with powers
defined by state laws.
law 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
twenty dollars.
Illinois law also permitted justices to adjudicate claims that
individuals had unlawfully entered and occupied land. Appeals of decisions rendered
by the mayor acting as a justice of the peace would be heard by the
Hancock County Circuit Court.
During his tenure as mayor, JS presided over
approximately seventeen civil suits. Documents for eight civil cases
are extant, four of which were heard during ’s tenure as clerk.
The charter
authorized the city council to pass ordinances 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 . The mayor, along with the aldermen, operated
courts that were tasked with prosecuting those accused of breaching
the ordinances.
During his time as judge of the mayor’s court, JS prosecuted approximately fifty
people charged with violating city ordinances. Documents for
fourteen of those cases—eleven heard during ’s tenure—are apparently extant.
According to the charter, the
Nauvoo Municipal Court was composed of the mayor as chief justice
and the city aldermen as associate justices. The charter gave the
municipal court “power to grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases
arising under the ordinances of the City Council.” During JS’s tenure as chief justice, he
presided over nine habeas corpus proceedings in the municipal court,
each of which is attested in docket entries and extant case files.
According to the charter, the
Nauvoo Municipal Court heard appeals “from any decision or judgment”
rendered by the mayor’s or aldermen’s courts “arising under the city
ordinances.” The charter also stated “that the parties litigant
shall have a right to a trial by a Jury of twelve men, in all cases
before the Municipal Court,” a provision that applied to
appeals. During his tenure as chief
justice, JS presided over three appeals,
each of which is represented by docket entries and extant case
files.