Oregon State Courts
The judicial system of Oregon starts with the many trial courts around the state, which feed into courts of criminal appeals, and a state supreme court if required to deal with specific issues and appeals from the lower courts. Within the judicial system there is also a federal district court in Oregon.
The District of Oregon federal court covers the whole of the state, and there is a separate United States bankruptcy court for the District of Oregon, too, which purely has jurisdiction over bankruptcy issues for individuals and companies.
Circuit Courts are the trial courts in the region and a huge number of cases pass through these courts. There are 27 districts in total, and 36 counties of Oregon which all have their own circuit court. Appeals from here are heard higher up the appellate courts.
County courts in the region deal exclusively with probate and juvenile issues, with subject-matter jurisdiction rather than general jurisdiction.
There is a Tax Court, which deals with budgets, property tax and also appeals relating to taxation.
The Oregon Justice Courts only have jurisdiction over counties, and also only deal with small claims of less than $5,000 monetary value. They do a similar job to the municipal courts which can deal with things like traffic misdemeanors.
| Court Name: | Oregon Judicial Department |
| Address: | Oregon Supreme Court 1163 State Street Salem, OR 97301 |
| Phone: | (503) 986-5555 |
| Website URL: | https://www.courts.oregon.gov/courts/appellate/Pages/default.aspx |
Intermediate and Supreme Courts
There is an intermediate court in Oregon to deal with the appeals to come from the lower courts in the system. This is the Oregon Court of Appeals, which hears both civil appeals and criminal. Some cases are only able to be reviewed by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the area. It was founded in the 1850s, and deals with appeals from the lower courts. Cases that have the death penalty involved can also only be dealt with by the State Supreme Court in Oregon.
Types of Courts in Oregon
How to Find Oregon Court Records Online
You can use our court record search in order to find information from the history of Oregon courts. Records include arrest warrants, mugshots, divorce details, probate details and much more. There are Public Records and Public Meetings Laws to protect the right to see this data without having any specific “need to know” or permissions. As long as the records aren’t protected by another law you are able to search through them in the state of Oregon by using our simple tool.
In some circumstances, the oldest records have not yet been digitized. If this is the case then you may have to specifically contact Oregon authorities to access the details. Most modern cases do not require this, as records have been made available online by the judicial system of Oregon.