The Oregon Revised Statutes, commonly cited as the ORS, are the official compilation of Oregon’s permanent laws, arranged by subject and kept current by the Legislative Counsel. They cover roughly 60 titles, from criminal penalties and court procedure to taxation, education, and landlord-tenant rules, and the full text is published free online by the Oregon Legislature.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes
How the Numbering Works
The ORS uses a three-level hierarchy: titles, chapters, and sections. Titles are the broadest groupings. Title 16 covers “Crimes and Punishments,” and Title 29 covers “Revenue and Taxation.”2Oregon State Legislature. Table of Titles and Chapters Within each title, chapters narrow to specific topics; Chapter 161, for example, holds the general provisions of the criminal code.
Every provision has a decimal number. The digits before the decimal point are the chapter, and the digits after it are the section inside that chapter. ORS 161.605 means Chapter 161, Section 605, which sets the maximum prison term for each class of felony.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 161 – General Provisions The gaps between section numbers are deliberate. They leave room for the legislature to slot new provisions in later without renumbering the chapter.
Once you can read the number, you can jump straight to the law. The legislature’s website lets you browse by title, open a chapter, or search by section number or keyword.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes
Session Laws vs. the Codified ORS
Oregon’s legislature meets every year. Odd-numbered years bring a long session, and even-numbered years bring a short session capped at 35 days. When a session produces new legislation, those acts first appear chronologically as “Oregon Laws,” the official record of what the legislature passed and the governor signed that term. They aren’t yet woven into the ORS.
The Legislative Counsel then integrates those session laws into the existing framework, amending the affected sections, adding new ones, and removing language the legislature repealed. A new consolidated edition is published each biennium; the current release is the 2025 Edition.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes
The practical difference matters. If you want to know what the law says right now, read the ORS. If you need to trace how a provision changed over time, or find the bill that introduced a specific line, go to Oregon Laws.
Statutes vs. Administrative Rules
The ORS is not the only body of Oregon law you may need. The Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) contain regulations written by state agencies to carry out statutes the legislature passed. A statute might direct an agency to license a profession and set broad standards; the OAR then holds the specific application forms, requirements, and fees the agency adopted to run that program.
Both have legal force, but statutes outrank rules. If an agency rule exceeds the authority its enabling statute granted, the rule can be challenged. For a complete answer to most Oregon legal questions, check both. The OAR is maintained by the Secretary of State’s office rather than the legislature.
Where to Read the ORS
The official online version lives on the Oregon Legislature’s website, free to anyone.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes The site hosts the current edition along with archived editions, which is useful if you need to see what a statute said in an earlier year. Printed sets can be ordered through the legislature’s store, and county law libraries and the State Library of Oregon keep physical copies available for public use.
Third-party legal websites also republish Oregon statutes, and they’re convenient for quick lookups. They don’t always carry the latest amendments or corrections, though. If a compliance decision, a filing, or a business choice turns on the exact wording, verify it against the official version.
You’re free to copy and share the text itself. In Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court held that official legal codes and their annotations cannot be copyrighted, writing that “no one can own the law.”4Supreme Court of the United States. Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. The ORS is in the public domain.
How to Cite an ORS Section
The standard short form is “ORS” followed by the decimal section number. The rule on statutory construction is ORS 174.010. The felony prison-term statute is ORS 161.605. No title name or chapter heading is needed; the decimal does the work.
When the edition matters, add the year in parentheses: ORS 174.010 (2025). That’s useful when comparing versions over time or when a case turns on an older text. In formal legal writing under the Bluebook, the same information takes the form Or. Rev. Stat. ยง 174.010 (2025). The year refers to when the code volume was published, not when the statute was first enacted or last amended.
Outside court filings, the short “ORS” form is what you’ll see in government documents, news coverage, and everyday legal discussion. A Class A felony, to take one example, carries up to 20 years in prison under ORS 161.605 and fines up to $375,000 under ORS 161.625.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 161 – General Provisions Two citations, and any Oregon lawyer or agency official knows exactly where to look.
How Courts Read the Text
When a dispute arises over what a statute means, Oregon courts follow the construction rule in ORS 174.010. Judges are told to determine what the statute actually says, without inserting language the legislature left out or ignoring language it included, and to adopt a reading that gives effect to all related provisions where possible.5Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 174 – Statutory Construction
The plain language carries the most weight. If the words are clear, courts apply them as written, even against arguments that the legislature meant something else. For practical reading, that puts the burden on the text itself. Read it carefully and literally. When the words genuinely are ambiguous, courts may turn to legislative history and the broader statutory context, but the starting point is always what the section actually says.