The Oregon Supreme Court Building is the home to the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...

, and the

Oregon Judicial Department The Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) is the judicial branch of government of the state of Oregon in the United States. The chief executive of the branch is the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Oregon’s judiciary consists primarily of ...

. Located in the state capitol complex in

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada Ontario * Bruce County ** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie ** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce * Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...

, it is Oregon's oldest state government building. The three story structure was completed in 1914 and currently houses the state's law library, and once housed the

Oregon State Library The State Library of Oregon in Salem, is the library for the U.S. state of Oregon. The mission of the State Library of Oregon is to provide leadership and resources to continue growing vibrant library services for Oregonians with print disabil ...

History

The state supreme court used to hold session in various locations in downtown Salem. In 1854

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Ori ...

began construction of the Territorial Capitol Building in Salem that was finished in 1855.First State House. Oregon State Capitol, R HMC-1111 (Salem Public Library) The court was briefly located in that building on the second floor. However, on December 29, 1855 after the building was partially occupied, it was razed by fire.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. Then in 1876 the state finished construction on a second capitol building where the court was located on the third floor.''The Oregonian'', January 15, 1893. In 1911, a bill was introduced in the

Oregon Legislature The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the Ho ...

by John A. Carson (grandfather of future Chief Justice Wallace P. Carson, Jr.) to expand the 1876 capitol building to add a wing for the court.Finnemore, Melody
Built Like a Fortress: Preserving Oregon's Historic Supreme Court Building.
''

Oregon State Bar Bulletin The Oregon State Bar Association (OSBA) is a public corporation and instrumentality of the Oregon Judicial Department in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1890 as the private Oregon Bar Association, it became a public entity in 1935 that regulat ...

'', August/September 2005. Retrieved on February 1, 2008. This bill was later amended to allow for the construction of a separate building instead. Construction began in 1913 with the design by local architect William C. Knighton. Knighton was the state's first official architect. The building was completed in early 1914 and the first session of court in the building was held on February 14, 1914 in the third floor courtroom. This was the 55th anniversary of Oregon's statehood. Total cost for the structure was $320,000.Oregon Historic Photographs Collections: Supreme Court Building, State & 12th Streets, Salem, Oregon.
Salem Public Library. Retrieved on February 1, 2008. Prior to the completion of the Oregon State Library Building in 1939 the state library was located in the basement and first floor of the Supreme Court Building. Kester, Randall
Oregon Legal Heritage: EX LIBRIS: A lament for libraries.
Oregon State Bar Bulletin, June 2003. Retrieved on February 1, 2008. As this building and the Oregon State Capitol were connected by

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s used for utilities, the fire that destroyed the capitol in 1935 also damaged the library. This was due to all the water that was used to fight the fire drained into the basement and destroyed many books in the

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

. On October 12, 1962, during the Columbus Day Storm that caused an estimated $170 million in damages, the decorative stained-glass

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

in the courtroom was damaged. The original stained-glass piece was created by Povey Brothers Art Glass Works, who were the premier artisans of that trade in the Northwest from 1888 to 1929. Oregon Supreme Court courtroom stainedglass

Oregon Supreme Court courtroom stainedglass

Beginning in 1981 the building was renovated with much of the

courtroom A courtroom is the enclosed space in which courts of law are held in front of a judge. A number of courtrooms, which may also be known as "courts", may be housed in a courthouse. In recent years, courtrooms have been equipped with audiovisual ...

refurbished with Italian silk paneling, hand-painted carpet, and new furniture built by inmates. This refurbishing was completed in 2002 when the State of Oregon Law Library's renovations were completed. During this time in 1989, the building was added to Salem's Historic Properties List as a local historic landmark. Funds for the renovations came from private donors. The

stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

skylight located above the courtroom that has a design of the Oregon State Seal was reinforced at this time and a protective clear skylight was built over the decorative skylight installed in 1914. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2020.

Architecture

The building's exterior's finish is a cream colored terra cotta. It has five ornate columns in relief on the front of the building's façade. The exterior was designed to resemble the previous Oregon Capitol building (which burned in 1935). On the interior, the building contains a marble finish, ornate spiral staircase, the stained-glass skylight, a library with columns throughout, and tile flooring. The primary wood used in the courtroom is

Philippine mahogany Philippine mahogany is a common name for several different species of trees and their wood. * Botanically, the name refers to '' Toona calantas'' in the mahogany family, Meliaceae. It is endemic to the Philippines. * In the US timber trade, it is o ...

.Suo, Steve. Oregon Supreme Court is robed in tradition-bound world of its own. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'', December 3, 1995.

Currently

The Oregon Supreme Court Building currently houses the courtroom for the Supreme Court and the state's law library. This single courtroom is also home to where oral arguments are heard for the

Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...

, while the building is home to

. The Supreme Court's courtroom and offices for the justices are located on the third floor. This building is the oldest state government building in Oregon. In 2006, new security measures were implemented at the building that require visitors to sign in with an

Oregon State Police The Oregon State Police (OSP) is a law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of Oregon. The OSP enforces all of Oregon's criminal laws and assists local law enforcement agencies. Terri Davie has served as Superintendent since November 1, 2020. The ...

officer who is posted at a security desk near the main entrance to the building on the first floor.Oregon Supreme Court Building Security Enhancements.
oregoncourt.info. Retrieved on February 1, 2008. In October 2019 the Court moved to temporary quarters elsewhere in the city when the building began two years of upgrades to include strengthening the structure against earthquake.

Law library

The State of Oregon Law Library on the second floor of the building was created in 1848 when Oregon Territory was created.Oregon Blue Book: State of Oregon Law Library.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on February 1, 2008. In 1851 the legislature passed an act to provide a librarian for this library that mainly served Oregon government officials. Then in 1855 a capitol building was nearly complete when it burned down on December 29, 1855. This building included the law library on the second floor. In 1905 control of the library was changed to the Oregon Supreme Court and both moved into the Supreme Court Building in 1914. In 2002 the library name was changed from the Oregon Supreme Court Library to the State of Oregon Law Library after the completion of renovations that among other items increased the number of electrical outlets from just two. Currently the library is open to everyone and is the largest state government

law library A law library is a special library used by law students, lawyers, judges and their law clerks, historians and other scholars of legal history in order to research the law. Law libraries are also used by people who draft or advocate for new l ...

in the state. The library is a split level facility existing on both the second floor and third floor of the building. The library has a total of 165,000 volumes in its collections.Monthly Membership Newsletter.
Mary Leonard Law Society, May 2007. Retrieved on June 28, 2007. Collections include the laws of all United States

jurisdictions Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

, many historical legal documents, and a variety of legal periodicals. The library is also a depository for the

Federal Depository Library Program The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is a government program created to make U.S. federal government publications available to the public at no cost. As of April 2021, there are 1,114 depository libraries in the United States and its ter ...

. Historical documents include an 1854 copy of the

Revised Statutes Revised Statutes is a term used in some common law jurisdictions for a collection of statutes that have been revised to incorporate amendments, repeals and consolidations. It is not a change to the law, but designed to make the body of statutes m ...

of the Territory of Oregon and a copy of the Congressional Act creating the

from 1848.Main page.
State of Oregon Law Library. Retrieved on June 28, 2007. Historical books include one from 1569 concerning

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

, an 18th-century book by Blackstone, and a 17th-century version of Coke's Commentary. Additional items of historic note are a large, ornate safe that traveled around

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

and an oak chest built for justice

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...

by a prisoner that was allowed to stay in prison after his sentence had ended at his own request. As the primary legal resource for the state government, it also has a collection of case law from all fifty states.About us.
State of Oregon Law Library. Retrieved on June 28, 2007. Along with the Oregon State Library and

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

’s J. W. Long Law Library and Hatfield libraries, the law library is a member of the Hatfield Library Consortium and shares a single reference catalog. The library is staffed by librarians and contains copy machines and computers for legal research.

References

Oregon Supreme Court Building circa 1922

External links

Picture of the Oregon Supreme Court BuildingState of Oregon Law Library
{{Oregon Judicial System Oregon Supreme Court Courthouses in Oregon Buildings and structures in Salem, Oregon 1914 establishments in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Salem, Oregon Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon