The Superior Court of California, County of Tulare (), also known as the Tulare County Superior Court, is the branch of the

California superior court Superior courts in California are the state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governmental agency. As mandated by t ...

with jurisdiction over

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...

History

Tulare County was formed in 1852 from parts of

Mariposa County Mariposa County () is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,131. The county seat is Mariposa. It is located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, north of Fresno, east of ...

. The first Tulare County Courthouse was a small log cabin "surrounded by a cheap fence" in the county seat of

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...

. The fence enclosed the county jail, which was five tree stumps with attached iron rings; prisoners were chained to the rings for security, and county officials stored records "in their hats and pockets." E. Jacobs described Visalia as "a weak and primitive settlement". A more permanent courthouse and jail were erected after a March 1854 County Board of Supervisors meeting. The second county courthouse was built in 1859, a two-story brick structure with a basement and a footprint of . The state legislature authorized the county to issue bonds to build a new courthouse in 1875. However, since the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

railroad had bypassed Visalia when it built its route through Tulare County in 1872, the choice to locate the courthouse in Visalia was controversial, and the citizens of Visalia campaigned to have the new courthouse built in the city to ensure its survival. The County Board of Supervisors met on April 10, 1876 to plan for the erection of a new courthouse; the cornerstone was laid on October 28. The original County Courthouse and Jail was sold at auction. The 1876 Courthouse was designed by A. A. Bennett, Esq., of San Francisco and had two courtrooms (one for the county, and one for the district). The brick building had a footprint of (W×D), with wings on either side measuring (W×D). Planning for a new courthouse started in November 1922, when the Board announced it had obtained an option to purchase five blocks for the new facility. The new courthouse was not completed until 1935. The present courthouse was completed in 1957 to a design by David Horn. Upon completion, payments to Horn were delayed over allegations of poor workmanship and faulty design.

Venues

The main courthouse for Tulare County Superior Court is in Visalia, with two satellite courthouses in Porterville and

Dinuba Dinuba is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 21,453 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Visalia-Porterville metropolitan statistical area. The Alta District Museum is located in Dinuba in a restored rai ...

. In addition, there are separate juvenile and family law facilities in Visalia.

References

External links

* * {{California topic, , Superior Court, title=

Superior Courts of California Superior courts in California are the state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governmental agency. As mandated by t ...

, exclude-regions=yes, exclude-cities=yes, exclude-suffix=yes

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

Superior courts in California