Online Catalog - State Archives of Florida - Florida Department of State

State Archives of Florida Online Catalog

The Online Catalog allows searching and browsing of information about the Florida State Archives’ holdings of over 48,000 cubic feet of state and local government records and historical manuscripts. The catalog provides descriptions of over 3,400 collections and lists the contents of containers and folders in many of those collections. For assistance with accessing and using State Archives collections, call our Reference Staff at 850.245.6719 or email us at archives@dos.myflorida.com.

Details Page
Click on for detailed listing.

	Record Group Number:	000650
	Series/Collection Number:	.S 632
	Creator:	Florida. Attorney General.
	Title, Dates:	Opinions, 1859-1913, 1941-1948, 1992-1998.
	Amount:	4.00 v. 54.00 cubic ft.
	Medium Included:
	Organization/Arrangement:	Chronological.
	Restrictions:
	Terms Governing Use:
	Biographical/Historical:	The Attorney General is the chief State legal officer (Chapter 16, Florida Statute). The office of the Attorney General provides legal services required by any state department. The Attorney General renders legal opinions on request to government agencies; reports on laws; directs state attorneys; and receives supreme court reports. The Attorney General appears on behalf of the state in all suits in the District Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court in which the state has an interest. In the 1969, Dept. of Legal Affairs assumed the duties of the office of the Attorney General (Ch. 69-106, Laws).
	Summary:	This incomplete series contains the official opinions of the Attorneys General of Florida. No records are extant from 1914 to 1940, and there are also some gaps in the records between the years 1859 and 1913: missing are the years 1867-1876, 1882-1884, and 1887-1894. The opinions are in the form of correspondence addressed to the government official who requested the opinion or legal advice in writing on a matter related to their official duties. There are four bound volumes of opinions. Volume 1 is a handwritten letterbook which contains the opinions of Mariano D. Papy (1859-1860); John B. Galbraith (1861-1866); George P. Raney (1877-1881); and C. M. Cooper (1885-1886). Volume 1 is not indexed. Volumes 2, 3 and 4 are letterpress books. Volume 2 contains the opinions of William B. Lamar (1895-1903) and has administrative correspondence interspersed with the opinions. Volume 2 has a recipient index. Volume 3 contains the opinions of James B. Whitfield (1903-1904) and W. H. Ellis (1904-1908). Volume 4 contains the opinions of W. H. Ellis (1908) and Park Trammell (1909-1913). Volumes 3 and 4 have both a recipient index and subject index. The bulk of the series is the opinions of Attorney General J. Tom Watson from 1941 to 1948. These are contained in boxes (34 cubic feet) arranged chronologically by case number. There is no index, but the subject of the opinion is listed on the file folder labels. Additional opinions were received in July 2007: Boxes 39 - 58 contain the opinions of the Attorneys General from 1992 - 1998 and are arranged chronologically by case number.
	Finding Aids:	Box listing available.
	Additional Physical Form:
	Reproduction Note:
	Location of Originals/Duplicates:
	Associated Materials:
	Language Notes:
	Ownership/Custodial History:
	Publication Note:
	General Note:
	Electronic Records Access:
	Subject Access Fields:	Attorneys general's opinions Florida
	Added Entries	Cooper, C.M. 1856-1923 (Charles Marian), Ellis, W.H. 1867-1948 (William Hull), Galbraith, John B., 1828-1869 Lamar, William Bailey, 1853-1928 Papy, Mariano D., 1824-1875 Raney, George P., 1845-1911 Trammell, Park, 1876-1936 Watson, J. Tom b. 1885 (John Thomas), Whitfield, James Bryan, 1860-1948