Courts
Oregon’s 1981 Legislature enacted legislation that unified the state courts into the Oregon Judicial Department. The district, circuit, tax, and both appellate courts were combined beginning in 1983. In 1997, the Legislature then combined the district and circuit courts, and in 1998 added a Magistrate Division to the Tax Court.
Four courts make up Oregon’s state court system. The highest court is the Oregon Supreme Court, which hears some select direct appeals, but hears appeals mainly from the Oregon Tax and the Oregon Court of Appeals. The two divisions of the Tax Court provide trial level and appellate level court proceedings with appeals going directly to the Oregon Supreme Court. The Oregon Circuit Courts are the trial level courts of the state for both criminal and civil proceedings, with the majority of appeals going to the Oregon Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals handle appeals from the Circuit Courts and county courts, with appeals of their decisions going to the Oregon Supreme Court.
Read more about this topic: Oregon Judicial Department
Famous quotes containing the word courts:
“Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory:”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalm LXXXIV (l. LXXXIV, 9–11)
““With the gracious consent of the audience, you will be made to don the red tophat”Ma token phrase that the courts had evolved, whose true meaning was known to every schoolboy.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Expensive advertising courts us with hints and images. The ordinary kind merely says, “Buy.””
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)