The Santa Barbara County Court records contain over 2,300 court cases beginning with California statehood through the first decade of the 20th century. The variety of court cases represented span legal proceedings from debt settlement to probate to murder. The plaintiff and defendant names documented in these cases are a Who's Who of notable Santa Barbara Californios and early American settlers.

One hundred forty-eight (148) record storage boxes of mid-20th century Santa Barbara County Superior court cases spanning the years 1945 to 1963. Cases are in file folders labeled with 5-digit court case number. An index to the court case numbers is not available.