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:
“The courts used to be, fair and square, the avengers of secular crimes; but nowadays they demand respect even for the criminal.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“A day in thy courts is better than a thousand.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalms, 84:10.
“In the courts women have no rights, no voice; nobody speaks for them. I wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers. If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.”
—Sojourner Truth (1797–1883)