Circuit Court, Law and Equity Court Case Files

Record Group

Identifier: Circuit-001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of court case files from the Montgomery County Circuit Court, Law and Equity Court - Law Division.

Search Instructions

Each file listing includes the case number and the title of the case, both of which are searchable.

The case number consists of a two digit prefix of "L" and a single digit number, followed by a hyphen and a four digit number that includes leading zeros (i.e. L3-0072). To search by case number you must enter the full case number, including all of the elements listed previously.

Case titles generally include the names of the primary plantiff and defendant (if any), listed in the following format: last name, first name (i.e. Smith, John). Additional parties to the case may be listed after the primary party and will appear in direct order. When searching for a specific name try searching using both formats to identify files of interest.

Dates

1966-09-15 - 1984-08-29

Creator

Montgomery County (Tenn.). Circuit Court (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.

Biographical / Historical

The Law and Equity Court in Montgomery County was created by Chapter 274, Public Acts of Tennessee, 1965. Comprised of two divisions, the "Law" division was presided over by the Circuit Court while the "Equity" division was presided over by the Chancery Court. The Law and Equity Court was created in part to help work through a backlog of civil court cases in the county.

Although the court was legally organized in 1965, the election for Law and Equity Court Judge was not held until 1966. Despite running against Alex Darnell, who was serving as the Montgomery County Clerk and Master at the time, Clarksville lawyer Sam E. Boaz clinched the position. Boaz continued in the position until his retimement in 1982, having successfully run for re-election in 1974. He was succeeded by John H. Peay.

In 1984 the Law and Equity Court of Montgomery County was absorbed into the circuit court of the nineteenth judicial district.