However, for most genealogists the venture into such records is intimidating. Family History Library has filmed some court records, mainly court minutes, dockets and court orders, few of the actual court files themselves have been filmed.
Court records for the most part are open to the public.
To enable you to find information about your ancestors in various court records you need to know about the various indexes, minutes, court order books and dockets available. A docket entry is a short statement which gives an abbreviated account of an important act of the court in the conduct of a case. Dockets can contain bits of valuable information, but their main function is to provide you access to the actual court cases. Trial dockets are lists, or actually a calendar of cases, set to be tried during a specified term of the court. An execution docket is a list of executions against defendant's property made by the sheriff to satisfy courts' judgments.