courts.ca.gov APIcourts.ca.gov ↗
Access all California Rules of Court via API: 10 titles, Standards of Judicial Administration, and Ethics Standards. Browse TOC, fetch full rule text.
No input parameters required.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/ba51fb5a-745f-4615-980e-12cc25144efb/list_titles' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
List all available titles in the California Rules of Court. Returns a static list of title identifiers and their names.
No input parameters required.
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"titles": "array of objects with title_slug, title_name, and toc_url"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"titles": [
{
"toc_url": "/cms/rules/index/one",
"title_name": "Title One. Rules Applicable to All Courts",
"title_slug": "one"
},
{
"toc_url": "/cms/rules/index/two",
"title_name": "Title Two. Trial Court Rules",
"title_slug": "two"
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the courts.ca.gov API
The courts.ca.gov API provides access to the full California Rules of Court across 11 title groups through 4 endpoints. Use get_rule_text to retrieve the complete text of any specific rule by its identifier, get_table_of_contents to browse the division and chapter hierarchy within a title, or get_chapter_rules to pull multiple rules at once with optional division or chapter filtering.
Coverage and Structure
This API exposes the complete California Rules of Court as published by the California Judicial Branch. Coverage includes Titles 1 through 10 (note: Title 6 is omitted from the source), plus the Standards of Judicial Administration and Ethics Standards for Neutral Arbitrators. Each title is addressed by a title_slug value (e.g., two, standards, ethics) used consistently across all four endpoints.
Browsing and Discovery
list_titles returns the full set of available titles with each entry's title_slug, title_name, and toc_url. To drill into a title, pass its title_slug to get_table_of_contents, which returns every rule under that title along with its rule_id, division, chapter, and path. The total_rules field tells you how many rules exist in that title before you fetch any text.
Fetching Rule Text
get_rule_text takes a rule_id (e.g., rule2_3, ethics1, standard2_1) and an optional title_slug and returns the full rule_text and rule_title for that rule. Rule IDs follow the pattern used in the table of contents, so pairing get_table_of_contents with get_rule_text is the standard lookup flow.
Bulk Retrieval by Division or Chapter
get_chapter_rules lets you fetch multiple rules at once from a title. Supply a division string (e.g., '1' matches Division 1) and/or a chapter string to narrow scope, and use limit to cap the number of rules returned. The response includes a rules array with each rule's rule_id, rule_title, division, chapter, and rule_text, plus division_filter and chapter_filter fields confirming what was applied.
- Building a searchable index of California civil procedure rules by fetching all rules in Title 3 via get_chapter_rules
- Generating a structured outline of family law rules by pulling the Title 5 table of contents with get_table_of_contents
- Displaying the full text of a specific arbitration ethics standard in a legal research tool using get_rule_text with an ethics rule_id
- Auditing rule changes by storing snapshots of rule_text for each rule_id over time
- Creating a cross-reference tool that maps rule IDs to their division and chapter hierarchy from get_table_of_contents
- Populating a compliance checklist app with probate procedural rules by filtering get_chapter_rules by division
- Feeding California judicial standards text into an LLM for legal Q&A grounded in official rule language
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does courts.ca.gov offer an official developer API?+
What does get_table_of_contents return, and how is it organized?+
rules array where each object includes rule_id, rule_name, division, chapter, and path for every rule in the specified title. The total_rules field gives you a count upfront. You pass a title_slug such as three or standards to target a specific title.Can I filter get_chapter_rules to only a specific chapter within a division?+
division and a chapter parameter simultaneously. Division matching works on substring — '1' matches any entry containing Division 1. You can also use limit to cap how many rules are returned in a single call.Is Title 6 covered by this API?+
list_titles or any other endpoint. The remaining titles — 1 through 5, 7 through 10, Standards, and Ethics — are all accessible. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to add coverage if Title 6 content becomes available at the source.