{"id":1283,"date":"2024-12-13T17:01:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T17:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/national-archives.go-vip.net\/?page_id=1283"},"modified":"2025-06-19T13:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T13:28:11","slug":"district-court-records","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nationalarchives.ie\/ga\/collections\/court-records\/district-court-records\/","title":{"rendered":"District Court records"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<section id=\"block-block_62b9be7ca4063e69fa1d7bffe886f12f\" class=\"landing-page-header-block title-width-default block-color-muted-gold block-row-02-type-share block-row-02-share-position-bottom intro-full-width\" data-style=\"style-11\">    \n\n\t<div class=\"header \">\n\n\t\t\t\t\n<div class=\"translation-notice\">\n        <div class=\"inner container\">\n            <p><strong>Cuirfear aistri\u00fach\u00e1n ar f\u00e1il go luath<\/strong><\/p>\n            <p>\u00c1r leithsc\u00e9al as an m\u00edchaoithi\u00falacht. Cuirfear aistri\u00fach\u00e1n Gaeilge ar an leathanach seo ar f\u00e1il go luath. Go raibh maith agat as do chuid foighneachta agus muid ag obair ar leagan uasd\u00e1taithe.<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"intro\">\n\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"heading-0\">District Court records<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<!-- mobile -->\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"header-row-02\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"share\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"share-button pulse fade-in\" data-js=\"share-button\">SHARE<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"text h3\"><p>The District Court replaced the Quarter, Petty Sessions and County Courts. It is the lowest court in the court system. It is presided over by the President of the District Court and there are 54 District Court judges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<\/section>\n\n\t<span class=\"notification-top\" data-js=\"share-copied\">URL copied to clipboard<\/span>\n\n\n<section id=\"block-block_d5efc4150b4305db644bf9e1189efee9\" class=\"content-tile-block nai-block margin-top-small margin-bottom-small image_right text-regular text-black extra-padding-b bg-white no-border-top smaller-heading\" data-layout=\"layout-1-2\">        \n\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"content\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"image\" data-image=\"cover\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"text\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"text-content cms-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>How the District Court is organised<\/h2>\n<p>The District Court is organised on a regional basis. There are 23 districts all over Ireland, including the Dublin Metropolitan District. Each district is in turn divided into District Court areas. It should be noted that District Court areas may cross county boundaries.<\/p>\n<h3>Matters dealt with by the District Court<\/h3>\n<p>The District Court hears minor civil and criminal matters, such as preliminary hearings for serious cases, grants of extradition, fines, licensing matters and family law (maintenance) cases.<\/p>\n<h3>Family law cases<\/h3>\n<p>Family law cases held by the National Archives are closed to the public and can only be accessed with the written permission of the relevant District Court clerk.<\/p>\n<h2>District Court records in the National Archives<\/h2>\n<p>The records of the District Court are mainly in volume format with an entry for each case.<\/p>\n<p>The main categories are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Justices Minute Book (formerly the Order Book and also known as the Minute Book)<\/li>\n<li>Civil Process Book<\/li>\n<li>Summary Judgment Book<\/li>\n<li>Enforcement Order Book<\/li>\n<li>Ejectment Order Book<\/li>\n<li>Licences (issuing of intoxicating liquor, public dancing (clubs), auctioneer and lottery licences)<\/li>\n<li>Family law (maintenance, barring orders, affiliation orders and access)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>How to access District Court records<\/h3>\n<p>The finding aids for District Court records are located in the Reading Room. The records are in blue folders and are organised by county and then by district. A small number of District Court records are searchable in our <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalarchives.ie\/ga\/how-to-search-the-online-catalogue\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">online catalogue<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nationalarchives.ie\/ga\/plan-a-visit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Plan a visit<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>How to order records<\/h3>\n<p>To request District Court records, complete an order docket in the Reading Room.<\/p>\n<p>District Court records are available onsite, allowing researchers to order and access them on the same day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nationalarchives.ie\/ga\/plan-a-visit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Plan a visit<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ctas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"primary-button color-default size-default\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalarchives.ie\/ga\/collections\/\" target=\"\">Search the collections<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"21\" height=\"21\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 21\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M8.13743 5.21478C7.812 4.88934 7.28436 4.88934 6.95892 5.21478C6.63348 5.54022 6.63348 6.06786 6.95892 6.39329L11.3697 10.804L6.95892 15.2148C6.63348 15.5402 6.63348 16.0679 6.95892 16.3933C7.28436 16.7187 7.812 16.7187 8.13743 16.3933L13.1374 11.3933C13.4629 11.0679 13.4629 10.5402 13.1374 10.2148L8.13743 5.21478Z\" fill=\"white\"\/><\/svg><\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>    \n<\/section>\n\n<section id=\"block-block_d83d87c6e00e4d70e662b89d461d4794\" class=\"cards-row-block nai-block margin-top-small margin-bottom-default numbers-columns-3 images-ratio-landscape\">\n    <div class=\"container\">          \n                    <section class=\"cards\">\n                                    <article class=\"card-component fade-in\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalarchives.ie\/ga\/collections\/court-records\/circuit-court-records\/\" title=\"Circuit Court records\">\n                                                                                                                \n                            <div class=\"intro no-pb\">\n                                                                <h3 class=\"\">Circuit Court records<\/h3>                                <p>Types of cases dealt with by the Circuit Courts include defamation and false imprisonment cases, minor land valuation matters, malicious\/criminal injury, intoxicating liquor licences and family law.<\/p>                    \n                                                            <\/div>\n                        <\/a>\n                    <\/article>\n                                    <article class=\"card-component fade-in\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalarchives.ie\/ga\/collections\/court-records\/high-court-records\/\" title=\"High court records\">\n                                                                                                                \n                            <div class=\"intro no-pb\">\n                                                                <h3 class=\"\">High court records<\/h3>                                <p>The High Court has the power to determine the validity of any law having regard to the constitution. It hears civil and family law appeals from the Circuit Court. Although the High Court normally sits in Dublin, it also sits in circuit throughout the country at various times during the year.<\/p>                    \n                                                            <\/div>\n                        <\/a>\n                    <\/article>\n                                    <article class=\"card-component fade-in\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalarchives.ie\/ga\/collections\/court-records\/testamentary-records\/\" title=\"Testamentary records and wills\">\n                                                                                                                \n                            <div class=\"intro no-pb\">\n                                                                <h3 class=\"\">Testamentary records and wills<\/h3>                                <p>This page provides important information about testamentary records from the courts. It includes details on various record types, such as wills, grants of probate and intestacy. <\/p>                    \n                                                            <\/div>\n                        <\/a>\n                    <\/article>\n                            <\/section>\n        \n    <\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":3020,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1283","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>District Court records - An Chartlann N\u00e1isi\u00fanta<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalarchives.ie\/ga\/collections\/court-records\/district-court-records\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"District Court records - 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