Order book

Outside Virginia, an order book usually holds specific court orders, such as entering judgment, ordering a party to pay costs, or allowing property to be sold while a probate case was pending. Virginia county order books are much broader, reporting all kinds of actions by the court and its justices.

The Library of Virginia, as quoted by The Legal Genealogist, explains that minute books contain brief entries, while order books give synopses of cases in a neater, more organized form. Some counties use the two names interchangeably: Fairfax County treats its court order and minute books as one series, indexed by book and page.