Docket Sheet Basics
A docket is the court's timeline for a single case. It lists every filing, hearing, order, plea, and ruling in date order. The public docket sheet is a summary. It tells you what happened and when, but the underlying pleadings and signed orders usually stay with the clerk. Think of the docket as the index, and the case file as the full book behind it.
Each docket entry is a short line tied to a date. A criminal docket may run from the complaint and preliminary arraignment through bail, the preliminary hearing, the filing of the information, motions, the plea or trial, and sentencing. A civil docket tracks the complaint, answers, motions, orders, and any judgment. Confidential identifiers are removed under the state's case records access policy, so a public docket will not show a Social Security number, a financial account, or a minor's name. The full Northampton County court records overview explains how each office holds the paper file behind these entries.
Dockets exist for both the Court of Common Pleas and the fifteen Magisterial District Courts. The court level shapes what the docket holds. Minor-court dockets cover traffic, summary, small civil, and landlord/tenant matters. Common Pleas dockets carry the larger criminal and civil cases for the Third Judicial District.
How to Search Northampton County Court Dockets
The main tool is the Pennsylvania UJS Case Search portal, run by the Unified Judicial System. It is free, and no login is needed to read public docket sheets. The portal covers criminal Court of Common Pleas cases, the magisterial district courts, and appellate matters. Magisterial dockets include traffic, non-traffic, civil, and landlord/tenant cases. One key gap: Common Pleas civil docket sheets are not posted on the public UJS site.
Have your details ready first. A last name is the minimum. A first name, date of birth, docket number, or citation number narrows the search fast. Set the county to Northampton to keep stray statewide results off your list. The UJS Case Search help page walks through the docket sheet and calendar searches in plain steps.
- Open the UJS Case Search portal and pick your search type.
- Choose Participant Name for a person, or Docket Number if you have the case number.
- Enter the last and first name, then set the county to Northampton.
- Pick a docket type and a date range to focus a broad search.
- Review the result list for docket number, court, parties, filing date, and status.
- Open the docket sheet to read charges, events, bail, disposition, and costs.
If a name search comes back empty, the help pages suggest clearing the screen, confirming Participant Name is selected, and trying again with fewer filters. You can also search by docket number or citation number for an exact hit. When a docket you know exists still will not show, contact the filing court to confirm the case.
Northampton County Civil Dockets
Common Pleas civil dockets need a different tool. The Northampton County CountySuite Civil Case Search is the Prothonotary's online portal. Its banner reads "Northampton County Prothonotary Online Portal." Use it for divorce, custody, judgments, liens, mortgage foreclosure, personal injury, name change, and appeals from district court judgments. The portal also supports e-filing and includes a Case Search User Guide in its Help menu.
Why the split? UJS public help states that Common Pleas civil docket sheets are not available on the public UJS portal. So a civil docket lookup in this county runs through CountySuite, not the statewide site. The two systems do not share a search box. For paper documents or certified civil copies, the request goes to the Prothonotary office.
Civil dockets carry their own rhythm. The complaint or praecipe opens the case. Then come answers, preliminary objections, motions, orders, and any arbitration award or judgment. A divorce docket may show the complaint, service, affidavits, and the final decree. Full filing detail sits on the Northampton County Prothonotary page, which covers the Civil Division and its certified copy process.
Criminal Docket Events
A criminal docket tells the story of a prosecution in date order. It often starts in a magisterial district court with the complaint and a preliminary arraignment. Bail gets set. A preliminary hearing follows, where the magisterial district judge decides whether the case is held for the Court of Common Pleas. If it moves up, the information is filed, and a formal arraignment is scheduled.
From there the docket entries track the heart of the case. Expect motions, orders, continuances, the trial list, a plea or verdict, and sentencing. Bench warrants may be issued or withdrawn. Costs, fines, restitution, and a payment plan can appear near the close. The docket ends when the case is marked closed or disposed. For arrest and booking detail that sits ahead of these entries, the Northampton County arrest records page covers the law-enforcement side.
One rule matters above all. A charge is not a conviction. The disposition line tells you the real outcome of each count, so read it before drawing any conclusion. A docket can list a charge that was later dismissed, withdrawn, or reduced. The Criminal Division holds the Common Pleas criminal file and charges $10 for a county criminal record search.
Note: A free UJS docket shows case status and events, but it is not a Pennsylvania State Police criminal-history background check.
Magisterial District Traffic and Landlord/Tenant Dockets
The fifteen Magisterial District Courts handle the bulk of the county's minor cases, and their dockets are searchable on UJS. These courts cover traffic citations, non-traffic summary offenses, small civil claims, and landlord/tenant disputes. Civil claims under $12,000 are filed in the district court with proper venue. In 2011, the county's district courts handled 65,636 cases, with traffic making up the largest share.
Traffic and non-traffic dockets are easiest to find by citation number. A landlord/tenant docket shows the complaint, the hearing, and any judgment for possession or money. A summary criminal docket tracks the citation, the plea, and the disposition. These dockets are short compared to a Common Pleas case, but they follow the same date-ordered format.
Finding the right district matters because the county is split across many wards and townships. Easton and Bethlehem each have several district courts for their wards, while rural districts cover Nazareth, Bangor, Wind Gap, Walnutport, Bath, and more. District court hours run 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and money is not accepted after 4:00 p.m. Traffic-specific docket detail sits on the Northampton County traffic court records page.
- Traffic - Vehicle Code citations filed by police or state troopers.
- Non-traffic - summary offenses such as disorderly conduct or local ordinance cases.
- Civil - money claims under $12,000 within the district's venue.
- Landlord/tenant - possession and rent disputes between owners and renters.
- Criminal - preliminary hearings and bail for charges headed to Common Pleas.
Northampton County Court Calendars
A docket tells the history of a case. A calendar tells you when the case is scheduled next. The Northampton County Court publishes several lists that work alongside a docket search. These include the full court calendar, the ARD list, argument lists, the arraignment list and index, civil jury and non-jury lists, civil pretrial lists, custody lists, the DUI ARD list, status conferences, and the trial list.
Calendars and dockets answer different questions. If you are tracking an upcoming hearing, the calendar confirms the courtroom and timing that a docket alone may not make clear. The county also publishes local opinions through the Northampton County court opinions page, which is useful once a case has a written ruling.
| Tool | What It Answers |
|---|---|
| Docket sheet | The full history of filings, events, and the outcome of a case. |
| Court calendar | When and where the next hearing or list is scheduled. |
| Trial list | Which cases are set for trial in an upcoming term. |
| ARD / DUI ARD list | Cases set for the diversionary program review. |
| Opinions page | Written rulings the court has published in a matter. |
Calendars help with planning a courthouse visit too. Jury weeks crowd the building and fill the garage. When a docket entry and a posted list do not line up, the filing office can confirm the current status faster than guessing from an old line.
Reading Northampton County Case Numbers
Every docket number is coded. It tells you the court, the county, the docket type, and the year. Northampton County is county code 48 in Common Pleas criminal docket formats. So a Common Pleas criminal docket reads as CP-48-CR followed by a sequence and the year. A magisterial matter uses an MJ format tied to the district number. Learning the code lets you read a docket number at a glance.
The letters in a docket number stand for the case type. Knowing the abbreviations helps you sort search results and pick the right docket type filter on UJS. These short codes show up across the portal and on the docket sheets themselves.
- CP
- Court of Common Pleas, the county's general trial court.
- MJ
- Magisterial District Judge, one of the fifteen minor courts.
- CR
- Criminal matter.
- SA
- Summary appeal from a district court summary case.
- TR / NT
- Traffic and non-traffic citations.
- LT
- Landlord/tenant case.
- CV
- Civil matter.
- OTN
- Offense Tracking Number, which links charges across the system.
If you only have a name, you do not need the docket number to start. Search by participant name, then read the docket number off the result. From that point the code tells you which office holds the paper file. The county's main Court of Common Pleas page explains how the general trial court fits above the district courts.
What a Northampton County Docket Shows
A public docket sheet packs a lot into a small space. It is built from a fixed set of fields, and once you know them, any docket is easy to read. Confidential identifiers are redacted under the Case Records Public Access Policy, so some personal data never appears. The fields below are what a typical Northampton County docket sheet displays.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Docket Number | Court-coded case number, such as CP-48-CR for Common Pleas criminal. |
| Court | Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County or a numbered district court. |
| Case Caption | Commonwealth v. defendant, or plaintiff v. defendant for civil cases. |
| Filing Date | When the case, complaint, or citation was lodged. |
| Parties | Names, roles, and counsel, with confidential identifiers redacted. |
| Charges | Offense, statute, grade, and OTN for criminal matters. |
| Bail | Bail type, amount, and posting status when it applies. |
| Docket Entries | Filings, hearings, orders, pleas, sentencing, and warrants in date order. |
| Calendar Events | Event type, date, time, courtroom, and judge or MDJ. |
| Disposition | The outcome of each charge or claim. |
The docket sheet is viewable, but the documents behind it usually are not. Underlying pleadings and orders are not downloadable from the public UJS site. To get an image or a certified copy, route the request to the office that holds the file. Civil and divorce copies go to the Prothonotary, while Common Pleas criminal copies come from the Criminal Division.
Missing or Sealed Northampton County Dockets
Some cases never show up in a public docket search. UJS help lists the categories that are kept off the public portal. These include juvenile cases, sealed cases, expunged cases, cases pending expungement, and limited access or Clean Slate cases under Act 5 of 2016. Common Pleas civil docket sheets are also missing from the public UJS site, and so are records destroyed under the court's retention schedule.
A docket can also seem missing for a simple reason. The name may be spelled differently, the date range may be too tight, or the county filter may be wrong. A married or former name can hide a case. Try clearing the search, dropping filters, and looking by docket number or citation number. When the case still will not appear and you believe it exists, contact court staff to confirm.
Sealed and expunged records work in different ways. Expungement under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122 can remove eligible records from the system. Limited access seals a record from public view while still letting courts, police, and certain agencies see it. After either step, a public UJS docket search may no longer show the case. Adoption and dependency dockets in the Orphans' Court are confidential, and the Pennsylvania courts system applies the same access policy statewide.