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Origin of Case
Variable Name
caseOrigin
Spaeth Name
ORIGIN
Normalizations
211 [ view ]

The focus of this variable is the court in which the case originated, not the administrative agency (see adminAction and adminActionState). For this reason a number of cases show a state or federal appellate court as the one in which the case originated rather than a court of first instance (trial court). This variable has no entry for cases that originated in the United States Supreme Court. Note too that caseOrigin does not identify the name of the state if the case originated in a state court. For the state name, see variable caseOriginState.

The courts in the District of Columbia present a special case in part because of their complex history. (The Federal Judicial Center's website provides a succinct description, at: http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/courts_special_dc.html). Below there is a separate code for the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, which at times had the powers of a circuit court and at others was a trial court. The current federal courts, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (previously known as the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia) and the District Court for the District of Columbia) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (a successor to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia) also, of course, have their own separate codes. Local trial (including today's superior court) and appellate courts (including today's District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the highest court in the District of Columbia) are treated as state courts here and as District of Columbia under the caseOriginState variable.

Other general coding notes:

  • Cases that arise on a petition of habeas corpus and those removed to the federal courts from a state court are defined as originating in the federal, rather than a state, court system.

  • This variable has no entry if the case arose under the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction and in other proceedings with which no other court was involved.

  • A petition for a writ of habeas corpus begins in the federal district court, not the state trial court.

  • Cases removed to a federal court originate there.


    Coding notes with special relevance to the legacy database:

  • The originating (caseOrigin) and source (caseSource) court is often the same because many cases went from trial directly to the Supreme Court. For these cases, lcDisposition (how the source court treated the originating court’s decision) will be empty. An exception is the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, which had a trial and general session. See, e.g., Thaw v. Ritchie, 136 U.S. 519 (1890), in which the court in general term reversed the trial court.

  • We identify courts based on the naming conventions of the day. In the legacy data, users will see that many source and origin courts are “United States Circuit Court for the ___ District of ___. Because of the plethora of districts (and changes in districts), we do not, however, differentiate among districts in a state. E.g., New York U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of New York includes all the districts in New York. For concise histories of the circuit and district courts, see the Federal Judicial Center’s website at: http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/index.html.


    Also see source of case (caseSource).
     
    Values:
    1 U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
    2 U.S. Court of International Trade
    3 U.S. Court of Claims, Court of Federal Claims
    4 U.S. Court of Military Appeals, renamed as Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
    5 U.S. Court of Military Review
    6 U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals
    7 U.S. Customs Court
    8 U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
    9 U.S. Tax Court
    10 Temporary Emergency U.S. Court of Appeals
    12 U.S. Court for China
    13 U.S. Consular Courts
    14 U.S. Commerce Court
    15 Territorial Supreme Court
    16 Territorial Appellate Court
    17 Territorial Trial Court
    18 Emergency Court of Appeals
    19 Supreme Court of the District of Columbia
    20 Bankruptcy Court
    21 U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
    22 U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
    23 U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
    24 U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
    25 U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
    26 U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
    27 U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
    28 U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
    29 U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
    30 U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
    31 U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
    32 U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (includes the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia but not the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which has local jurisdiction)
    41 Alabama Middle U.S. District Court
    42 Alabama Northern U.S. District Court
    43 Alabama Southern U.S. District Court
    44 Alaska U.S. District Court
    45 Arizona U.S. District Court
    46 Arkansas Eastern U.S. District Court
    47 Arkansas Western U.S. District Court
    48 California Central U.S. District Court
    49 California Eastern U.S. District Court
    50 California Northern U.S. District Court
    51 California Southern U.S. District Court
    52 Colorado U.S. District Court
    53 Connecticut U.S. District Court
    54 Delaware U.S. District Court
    55 District Of Columbia U.S. District Court
    56 Florida Middle U.S. District Court
    57 Florida Northern U.S. District Court
    58 Florida Southern U.S. District Court
    59 Georgia Middle U.S. District Court
    60 Georgia Northern U.S. District Court
    61 Georgia Southern U.S. District Court
    62 Guam U.S. District Court
    63 Hawaii U.S. District Court
    64 Idaho U.S. District Court
    65 Illinois Central U.S. District Court
    66 Illinois Northern U.S. District Court
    67 Illinois Southern U.S. District Court
    68 Indiana Northern U.S. District Court
    69 Indiana Southern U.S. District Court
    70 Iowa Northern U.S. District Court
    71 Iowa Southern U.S. District Court
    72 Kansas U.S. District Court
    73 Kentucky Eastern U.S. District Court
    74 Kentucky Western U.S. District Court
    75 Louisiana Eastern U.S. District Court
    76 Louisiana Middle U.S. District Court
    77 Louisiana Western U.S. District Court
    78 Maine U.S. District Court
    79 Maryland U.S. District Court
    80 Massachusetts U.S. District Court
    81 Michigan Eastern U.S. District Court
    82 Michigan Western U.S. District Court
    83 Minnesota U.S. District Court
    84 Mississippi Northern U.S. District Court
    85 Mississippi Southern U.S. District Court
    86 Missouri Eastern U.S. District Court
    87 Missouri Western U.S. District Court
    88 Montana U.S. District Court
    89 Nebraska U.S. District Court
    90 Nevada U.S. District Court
    91 New Hampshire U.S. District Court
    92 New Jersey U.S. District Court
    93 New Mexico U.S. District Court
    94 New York Eastern U.S. District Court
    95 New York Northern U.S. District Court
    96 New York Southern U.S. District Court
    97 New York Western U.S. District Court
    98 North Carolina Eastern U.S. District Court
    99 North Carolina Middle U.S. District Court
    100 North Carolina Western U.S. District Court
    101 North Dakota U.S. District Court
    102 Northern Mariana Islands U.S. District Court
    103 Ohio Northern U.S. District Court
    104 Ohio Southern U.S. District Court
    105 Oklahoma Eastern U.S. District Court
    106 Oklahoma Northern U.S. District Court
    107 Oklahoma Western U.S. District Court
    108 Oregon U.S. District Court
    109 Pennsylvania Eastern U.S. District Court
    110 Pennsylvania Middle U.S. District Court
    111 Pennsylvania Western U.S. District Court
    112 Puerto Rico U.S. District Court
    113 Rhode Island U.S. District Court
    114 South Carolina U.S. District Court
    115 South Dakota U.S. District Court
    116 Tennessee Eastern U.S. District Court
    117 Tennessee Middle U.S. District Court
    118 Tennessee Western U.S. District Court
    119 Texas Eastern U.S. District Court
    120 Texas Northern U.S. District Court
    121 Texas Southern U.S. District Court
    122 Texas Western U.S. District Court
    123 Utah U.S. District Court
    124 Vermont U.S. District Court
    125 Virgin Islands U.S. District Court
    126 Virginia Eastern U.S. District Court
    127 Virginia Western U.S. District Court
    128 Washington Eastern U.S. District Court
    129 Washington Western U.S. District Court
    130 West Virginia Northern U.S. District Court
    131 West Virginia Southern U.S. District Court
    132 Wisconsin Eastern U.S. District Court
    133 Wisconsin Western U.S. District Court
    134 Wyoming U.S. District Court
    150 Louisiana U.S. District Court
    151 Washington U.S. District Court
    152 West Virginia U.S. District Court
    153 Illinois Eastern U.S. District Court
    155 South Carolina Eastern U.S. District Court
    160 South Carolina Western U.S. District Court
    162 Alabama U.S. District Court
    163 U.S. District Court for the Canal Zone
    164 Georgia U.S. District Court
    165 Illinois U.S. District Court
    166 Indiana U.S. District Court
    167 Iowa U.S. District Court
    168 Michigan U.S. District Court
    169 Mississippi U.S. District Court
    170 Missouri U.S. District Court
    171 New Jersey Eastern U.S. District Court (East Jersey U.S. District Court)
    172 New Jersey Western U.S. District Court (West Jersey U.S. District Court)
    173 New York U.S. District Court
    174 North Carolina U.S. District Court
    175 Ohio U.S. District Court
    176 Pennsylvania U.S. District Court
    177 Tennessee U.S. District Court
    178 Texas U.S. District Court
    179 Virginia U.S. District Court
    180 Norfolk U.S. District Court
    181 Wisconsin U.S. District Court
    182 Kentucky U.S. Distrcrict Court
    183 New Jersey U.S. District Court
    184 California U.S. District Court
    185 Florida U.S. District Court
    186 Arkansas U.S. District Court
    187 District of Orleans U.S. District Court
    300 State Supreme Court
    301 State Appellate Court
    302 State Trial Court
    400 Eastern Circuit (of the United States)
    401 Middle Circuit (of the United States)
    402 Southern Circuit (of the United States)
    403 Alabama U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Alabama
    404 Arkansas U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Arkansas
    405 California U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of California
    406 Connecticut U.S. Circuit for the District of Connecticut
    407 Delaware U.S. Circuit for the District of Delaware
    408 Florida U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Florida
    409 Georgia U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Georgia
    410 Illinois U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Illinois
    411 Indiana U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Indiana
    412 Iowa U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Iowa
    413 Kansas U.S. Circuit for the District of Kansas
    414 Kentucky U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Kentucky
    415 Louisiana U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Louisiana
    416 Maine U.S. Circuit for the District of Maine
    417 Maryland U.S. Circuit for the District of Maryland
    418 Massachusetts U.S. Circuit for the District of Massachusetts
    419 Michigan U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Michigan
    420 Minnesota U.S. Circuit for the District of Minnesota
    421 Mississippi U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Mississippi
    422 Missouri U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Missouri
    423 Nevada U.S. Circuit for the District of Nevada
    424 New Hampshire U.S. Circuit for the District of New Hampshire
    425 New Jersey U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of New Jersey
    426 New York U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of New York
    427 North Carolina U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of North Carolina
    428 Ohio U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Ohio
    429 Oregon U.S. Circuit for the District of Oregon
    430 Pennsylvania U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Pennsylvania
    431 Rhode Island U.S. Circuit for the District of Rhode Island
    432 South Carolina U.S. Circuit for the District of South Carolina
    433 Tennessee U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Tennessee
    434 Texas U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Texas
    435 Vermont U.S. Circuit for the District of Vermont
    436 Virginia U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Virginia
    437 West Virginia U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of West Virginia
    438 Wisconsin U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Wisconsin
    439 Wyoming U.S. Circuit for the District of Wyoming
    440 Circuit Court of the District of Columbia
    441 Nebraska U.S. Circuit for the District of Nebraska
    442 Colorado U.S. Circuit for the District of Colorado
    443 Washington U.S. Circuit for (all) District(s) of Washington
    444 Idaho U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Idaho
    445 Montana U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Montana
    446 Utah U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Utah
    447 South Dakota U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of South Dakota
    448 North Dakota U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of North Dakota
    449 Oklahoma U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of Oklahoma
    601 Court of Private Land Claims
  • Introductory
    Identification Variables
    Background Variables
    Chronological Variables
    Substantive Variables
    Outcome Variables
    Voting & Opinion Variables

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