California State Courts

The court system in the state of California has four district courts as well as a supreme court and a court of appeals. There are also a number of different trial courts, also called Superior Courts, within the state. These may have limited jurisdiction over specific areas of the state.

California’s Superior Courts are divided into the counties of the state. There are 58 of these in total. The trials which are heard here can take place in over 400 different courthouses and may span both civil matters as well as criminal. Superior Courts in California can also deal with issues such as probate and family matters.

California also has district courts. There are four of these which deal with larger lawsuits and federal hearings. There are four of them in total, divided into regions, Central, Northern, Southern and Eastern, these four courts cover the whole of the state.

These same four regions are also used for the bankruptcy courts. There are four of these in California, which are allocated subject-matter jurisdiction. This means they only deal with cases relating to bankruptcy law.

https://www.ca.gov/

Court Name:	California Supreme Court
Address:	350 McAllister /imgeet, San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone:	(415) 865-7000
Website URL:	https://www.courts.ca.gov/supremecourt.htm

Intermediate and Supreme Courts

There are also six different “Courts of Appeal” within the state. These cover different districts and in total have over 100 judges. The cases that are heard by these courts are normally a contested case from one of the 58 county courts or “Superior Courts” in the state. Cases to originate in the district courts  can also end up being heard here, though.

Seven judges sit within the California Supreme Court. This is the federal court of last resort in the area, and cases can get referred from the lower courts to be heard here. Cases of significance or with a certain monetary value attached to them may also be heard in the Supreme Court of California. 

Types of Courts in California

How to Find California Court Records Online

You can use our tool to find the court records from California cases online. There is a wide variety of information made public under the “California Public Records Act” which was signed into law in the 1960s by Ronald Reagan. Though this is not identical to the Freedom of Information Act, it is a similar principal and makes it the right of citizens to see the court records regardless of their reasoning.

Search through warrants, sentencing details, mugshots and more using our database. In rare examples for older cases you may not be able to access digital files relating to a court case. In these cases, you will need to contact the specific court where the case was heard to access the information. In the modern age, and since the invention of the internet, most records are now digitized.

California Counties