Massachusetts Superior Court Files, 1859-1959

• NCJ Number: 102602
• Author(s): M S Hindus; T M Hammett; B M Hobson
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 94 pages
• Corporate Author: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
• Sale Source: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This volume presents a methodological discussion and a codebook for the data set resulting from drawing a stratified sample of 1,968 civil cases and 1,422 criminal cases from the court files of 2 Massachusetts counties for the years 1859 to 1959.

Abstract

The counties included one urban county and one rural county. The data set consists of 82 variables for civil cases and covers the type of complaint, the relationship between the parties, the relief sought and relief granted, the size of the file, and the historical interest of the case. The civil files include law, equity, and divorce cases. The 52 variables for the criminal cases include the type of crime, pleas, sentences, appeals, size of file, and historical interest of the case. A methodological historical interest of the case. A methodological discussion explains the contents of the files, records, and docket books; the design and selection of the sample; the coding of the information contained in the files; and the results of the analysis of the files for historical interest. Appendixes present civil and criminal codebooks listing column numbers and variable numbers and names.