Imperial Court System - History

History

The Imperial Court System in the United States was founded in San Francisco in 1965 by José Sarria. Sarria, affectionately known as "Mama José" or similar among Imperial Court members, adopted the nickname "Widow Norton" as a reference to Joshua Norton, a much-celebrated citizen of 19th Century San Francisco who had declared himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico in 1859.

Sarria soon became the nexus of a fundraising group with volunteer members bearing titles of nobility bestowed by yearly elected leaders. In the United States, the first court outside of San Francisco was Portland, Oregon who joined with San Francisco in 1970 to start the Court System, followed closely by Los Angeles and finally by Vancouver, Canada (through an accord with Canada's Empress, ted northe, who founded the Canadian Court System in 1964; which created the International Court System). These empires operated and formed policies more-or-less independently until an Imperial Court Council led by Sarria was formed to prevent participation by groups that were not strictly and solely involved with charitable fundraising.

For years, some chapters of the Imperial Court in Canada remained outside the recognition of the Widow Norton and the Imperial Court Council for various reasons, some regulatory and some related to dispute over northe's title. Eventually IICS leadership recognized northe as the Empress of All Canada, thus resulting in most Canadian chapters joining the same organization as the American courts. In 1997, northe was among the first recipients of the "José Honors Award" handed out by Sarria.

Infrequently, a schism within a court chapter has given rise to a sub-group unrecognized by the organization as a whole. Most of these so-called "rogue courts" or "rival courts" have collapsed and dissolved within a few years.