Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 23, 2026.
Cortland County, New York, has about 46,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). Its court cases are filed in the Cortland County Supreme and County Courts and the city, town and village courts, and the file of each case, kept by the County Clerk, is the public record of it. This guide says which court hears what, where to look a case up and who keeps the files.
This guide covers the courts, the records page, criminal cases, kinds of files, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Cortland County public records, Cortland County arrest records, Cortland County warrants, Cortland County inmate search, Cortland County criminal records, New York arrest records and New York inmate search.
The Courts That Hear Cases from Cortland County
In Cortland County, the Cortland County Supreme and County Courts hear divorces and major civil cases in the Supreme Court, felonies in the County Court.
The city, town and village courts take misdemeanors, traffic cases and small claims.
Divorces go to the Supreme Court, and the file stays with the County Clerk.
The County Clerk keeps the files, and a copy of anything in a file comes from that office, under the court's own rules rather than the Freedom of Information Law.
Looking Up a Case from Cortland County
For Cortland County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at cortlandcountyny.gov/173/Courts-Supreme-County (page title: Supreme & County Courts | Cortland County, NY), phone 607-753-5021, 46 Greenbush Street, #B5 Cortland, NY 13045, Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026. That page belongs to a lower court, the city, town and village courts, not to the Cortland County Supreme and County Courts.
Statewide, eCourts is the Unified Court System's free online case search (WebCivil, WebCrims and WebFamily).
The New York court page SearchSystems verified is at iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/CaseSearch.
What Reaches the Court from Cortland County
Together, the three agencies in Cortland County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,121 arrests to the FBI that year; the District Attorney decides which of those arrests become cases in the Cortland County Supreme and County Courts or the city, town and village courts.
The District Attorney's page SearchSystems verified is at cortlandcountyny.gov/239/District-Attorneys-Office (page title: District Attorney's Office | Cortland County, NY), phone 607-753-5008, 37 Church Street Cortland, NY 13045, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Kinds of Court Files
The court file is one record with several readers: a criminal case from the arrest to the sentence, a divorce from the petition to the judgment, a traffic ticket from the citation to the conviction the court reports to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, and an eviction or a lien on land.
The other Cortland County guides take the kinds of file one at a time: Cortland County criminal records, Cortland County traffic tickets, Cortland County DUI and Cortland County property records.
Cities in Cortland County
Wherever in the county a case arises, it is filed in the Cortland County Supreme and County Courts or the city, town and village courts.
The cities and towns in the county are Cortland, Homer, McGraw and Marathon.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I look up a court case in Cortland County?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at cortlandcountyny.gov, phone 607-753-5021; it belongs to a lower court, the city, town and village courts, not to the Cortland County Supreme and County Courts. Statewide, eCourts is the Unified Court System's free online case search (WebCivil, WebCrims and WebFamily).
Which court hears felonies in Cortland County?
The Cortland County Supreme and County Courts, which hear divorces and major civil cases in the Supreme Court, felonies in the County Court. The city, town and village courts take misdemeanors, traffic cases and small claims.
Who keeps the court records in Cortland County?
The County Clerk. Copies come from that office under the court's own rules.
Is there a statewide court case search in New York?
Yes: eCourts, the Unified Court System's free online case search (WebCivil, WebCrims and WebFamily).
Is this the official Cortland County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.