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Article VII (Amended): Judicial department

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Article VII (Amended): Judicial department

Section 1.

Courts; election of judges; term of office; compensation.

The judicial power of the state shall be vested in one supreme court and in such other courts as may from time to time be created by law. The judges of the supreme and other courts shall be elected by the legal voters of the state or of their respective districts for a term of six years, and shall receive such compensation as may be provided by law, which compensation shall not be diminished during the term for which they are elected.

[Created through initiative petition filed July 7, 1910, and adopted by the people Nov. 8, 1910]

Section 1a.

Retirement of judges; recall to temporary active service.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1, Article VII (Amended) of this Constitution, a judge of any court shall retire from judicial office at the end of the calendar year in which he attains the age of 75 years. The Legislative Assembly or the people may by law:

Fix a lesser age for mandatory retirement not earlier than the end of the calendar year in which the judge attains the age of 70 years;
Provide for recalling retired judges to temporary active service on the court from which they are retired; and
Authorize or require the retirement of judges for physical or mental disability or any other cause rendering judges incapable of performing their judicial duties.

This section shall not affect the term to which any judge shall have been elected or appointed prior to or at the time of approval and ratification of this section.

[Created through S.J.R. 3, 1959, and adopted by the people Nov. 8, 1960]

Section 2

Amendment’s effect on courts, jurisdiction and judicial system; Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction.

The courts, jurisdiction, and judicial system of Oregon, except so far as expressly changed by this amendment, shall remain as at present constituted until otherwise provided by law. But the supreme court may, in its own discretion, take original jurisdiction in mandamus, quo warranto and habeas corpus proceedings.

[Created through initiative petition filed July 7, 1910, and adopted by the people Nov. 8, 1910]

Section 2a

Temporary appointment and assignment of judges.

The Legislative Assembly or the people may by law empower the Supreme Court to:

Appoint retired judges of the Supreme Court or judges of courts inferior to the Supreme Court as temporary members of the Supreme Court.
Appoint members of the bar as judges pro tempore of courts inferior to the Supreme Court.
Assign judges of courts inferior to the Supreme Court to serve temporarily outside the district for which they were elected.

A judge or member of the bar so appointed or assigned shall while serving have all the judicial powers and duties of a regularly elected judge of the court to which he is assigned or appointed.

[Created through S.J.R. 30, 1957, and adopted by the people Nov. 4, 1958]

Section 2b.

Inferior courts may be affected in certain respects by special or local laws. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 23, Article IV of this Constitution, laws creating courts inferior to the Supreme Court or prescribing and defining the jurisdiction of such courts or the manner in which such jurisdiction may be exercised, may be made applicable:

To all judicial districts or other subdivisions of this state; or
To designated classes of judicial districts or other subdivisions; or
To particular judicial districts or other subdivisions.

[Created through S.J.R. 34, 1961, and adopted by the people Nov. 6, 1962]

Section 3

Jury trial; re-examination of issues by appellate court; record on appeal to Supreme Court; affirmance notwithstanding error; determination of case by Supreme Court.

In actions at law, where the value in controversy shall exceed $750, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of this state, unless the court can affirmatively say there is no evidence to support the verdict. Until otherwise provided by law, upon appeal of any case to the supreme court, either party may have attached to the bill of exceptions the whole testimony, the instructions of the court to the jury, and any other matter material to the decision of the appeal. If the supreme court shall be of opinion, after consideration of all the matters thus submitted, that the judgment of the court appealed from was such as should have been rendered in the case, such judgment shall be affirmed, notwithstanding any error committed during the trial; or if, in any respect, the judgment appealed from should be changed, and the supreme court shall be of opinion that it can determine what judgment should have been entered in the court below, it shall direct such judgment to be entered in the same manner and with like effect as decrees are now entered in equity cases on appeal to the supreme court. Provided, that nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the supreme court to find the defendant in a criminal case guilty of an offense for which a greater penalty is provided than that of which the accused was convicted in the lower court.

[Created through initiative petition filed July 7, 1910, and adopted by the people Nov. 8, 1910; Amendment proposed by H.J.R. 71, 1973, and adopted by the people Nov. 5, 1974; Amendment proposed by H.J.R. 47, 1995, and adopted by the people May 21, 1996]

Section 4

Supreme Court; terms; statements of decisions of court.

The terms of the supreme court shall be appointed by law; but there shall be one term at the seat of government annually. At the close of each term the judges shall file with the secretary of state concise written statements of the decisions made at that term.

[Created through initiative petition filed July 7, 1910, and adopted by the people Nov. 8, 1910]

Section 5 (original)

Juries; indictment; information.'

[Created through initiative petition filed July 7, 1910, and adopted by the people Nov. 8, 1910; Amendment proposed by S.J.R. 23, 1957, and adopted by the people Nov. 4, 1958; Repeal proposed by S.J.R. 1, 1973, and adopted by the people Nov. 5, 1974 (present section 5 of this Article adopted in lieu of this section)]

Section 5 (current)

Juries; indictment; information; verdict in civil cases.

The Legislative Assembly shall provide by law for:
1. Selecting juries and qualifications of jurors;
2. Drawing and summoning grand jurors from the regular jury list at any time, separate from the panel of petit jurors;
3. Empaneling more than one grand jury in a county; and
4. The sitting of a grand jury during vacation as well as session of the court.
A grand jury shall consist of seven jurors chosen by lot from the whole number of jurors in attendance at the court, five of whom must concur to find an indictment.
Except as provided in subsections (4) and (5) of this section, a person shall be charged in a circuit court with the commission of any crime punishable as a felony only on indictment by a grand jury.
The district attorney may charge a person on an information filed in circuit court of a crime punishable as a felony if the person appears before the judge of the circuit court and knowingly waives indictment.
The district attorney may charge a person on an information filed in circuit court if, after a preliminary hearing before a magistrate, the person has been held to answer upon a showing of probable cause that a crime punishable as a felony has been committed and that the person has committed it, or if the person knowingly waives preliminary hearing.
An information shall be substantially in the form provided by law for an indictment. The district attorney may file an amended indictment or information whenever, by ruling of the court, an indictment or information is held to be defective in form.
In civil cases three-fourths of the jury may render a verdict.

[Created through S.J.R. 1, 1973, and adopted by the people Nov. 5, 1974 (this section adopted in lieu of former section 5 of this Article)]

Section 6

Incompetency or malfeasance of public officer.

Public officers shall not be impeached; but incompetency, corruption, malfeasance or delinquency in office may be tried in the same manner as criminal offenses, and judgment may be given of dismissal from office, and such further punishment as may have been prescribed by law.

[Created through initiative petition filed July 7, 1910, and adopted by the people Nov. 8, 1910]

Section 7

Oath of office of Judges of Supreme Court.

Every judge of the supreme court, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe, and transmit to the secretary of state, the following oath: “I, ____________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of Oregon, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of a judge of the supreme court of this state, according to the best of my ability, and that I will not accept any other office, except judicial offices, during the term for which I have been elected.”

[Created through initiative petition filed July 7, 1910, and adopted by the people Nov. 8, 1910]

Section 8

Removal, suspension or censure of judges.

In the manner provided by law, and notwithstanding section 1 of this Article, a judge of any court may be removed or suspended from his judicial office by the Supreme Court, or censured by the Supreme Court, for:
1. Conviction in a court of this or any other state, or of the United States, of a crime punishable as a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude; or
2. Wilful misconduct in a judicial office where such misconduct bears a demonstrable relationship to the effective performance of judicial duties; or
3. Wilful or persistent failure to perform judicial duties; or
4. Generally incompetent performance of judicial duties; or
5. Wilful violation of any rule of judicial conduct as shall be established by the Supreme Court; or
6. Habitual drunkenness or illegal use of narcotic or dangerous drugs.
Notwithstanding section 6 of this Article, the methods provided in this section, section 1a of this Article and in section 18, Article II of this Constitution, are the exclusive methods of the removal, suspension, or censure of a judge.

[Created through S.J.R. 9, 1967, and adopted by the people Nov. 5, 1968; Amendment proposed by S.J.R. 48, 1975, and adopted by the people May 25, 1976]

Section 9

Juries of less than 12 jurors.

Provision may be made by law for juries consisting of less than 12 but not less than six jurors.

[Created through S.J.R. 17, 1971, and adopted by the people Nov. 7, 1972]