Record

n. A written account of some act, transaction or instrument, drawn up, under authority of law, by a proper officer, and designed to remain as a memorial or permanent evidence of the matters to which it relates. There are three kinds of records, viz.:
(1) judicial, as an attainder;
(2) ministerial, on oath, .being an office or inquisition found;
(3) by way of conveyance, as a deed enrolled. Wharton.

In practice. A written memorial of all the acts and proceedings in an action or suit, in a court of record. The record is the official and authentic history of the cause, consisting in entries of each successive step in the proceedings, chronicling the various acts of the parties and of the court, couched in the formal language established by usage, terminating with the judgment rendered in the cause, and intended to remain as a perpetual and unimpeachable memorial of the proceedings and judgment. At common, law, "reconi" signifies a roll of parchment upon which the proceedings and transactions of a court are entered or drawn up by its officers, and which is then deposited in its treasury in perpetuum rei memoriam. 3 Steph. Comm. 583 ; 3 Bl. Comm. 24, A court of reconi is that where the acts and judicial proceedings are enrolled in parchment for a perpetual memorial and testimony, which rolls are called the "records of the court," and are of such high and supereminent authority that their truth is not to be called in question. Hahn v. Kelly, 34 Cal. 422, 94 Am. Dec. 742. And see O'Co.nnell v. Hotchkiss, 44 Conn. 53; Murrah v. State, 51 Miss. 656; Bellas v. McCarty, 10 Watts (Pa.) 24; U. S. v. Taylor, 147 U. S. 695, 13 Sup. Ct. 479, 37 L Ed. 335; State v. Godwin, 27 N. C. 403, 44 Am. Den. 42; Vail v. Iglehart, 69 111. 334; State v. Anders, 64 Kan. 742, 68 Pac. 668; Wilkinson v. Railway Co.. (C. Ot) 23 Fed. 562; In re Chris-tem, 48 N. Y. Super. Ct. 531. In the practice of appellate tribunals, the word "record" is generally understood to mean the history of the proceedings on the trial of the action below, (with the pleadings, offers, objections to evidence, rulings of the court, exceptions, charge, etc.,) in so far as the same appears in the record furnished to the appellate court in the paper-books or other transcripts. Hence, derivatively, it means the aggregate of the various Judicial steps taken on the trial below, in so far as they were taken, presented, or allowed in the formal and proper manner necessary to put them upon the record of the court. This is the meaning in such phrases as "no error in the record," "contents of the record," "outside the record," etc.

— Conveyances by record. Extraordinary assurances; such as private acts of parliament and royal grants.

— Courts of record. Those whose judicial acts and proceedings are enrolled in parchment, for a perpetual memorial and testimony, which rolls are calied the "records of the court," and are of such high and supereminent authority that their truth is not to be called in question. Every court of record has authority to fine and imprison for contempt of its authority. 3 Broom & H. Comm. 21, 30.
—Debts of record.Those which appear to be due by the evidence of a court of record; such as a judgment, recognizance, etc.

— Diminution of record. Incompleteness of the rec-cord sent up on appeal. See Diminution.

— Matter of record. See Matter.

— Nnl tiel record. See Nul.

— Pocket record. A statute so calied. Brownl. pt. 2, p. 81.

— Public record. A Tecord, memorial of some act or transaction, written evidence of something done, or document, considered as either concerning or interesting the public, affording notice or information to the public, or open to public inspection. See Keefe v. Donnell, 92 Me. 151, 42 Atl. 345; Colnon v. Orr, 71 Cal. 43, 11 Pac. 814.

— Record and writ clerk. Four officers of the court of chancery were designated by this title, whose duty it was to file bills brought to them for that purpose. Business was distributed among them according to the initial letter of the surname of the first plaintiff in a suit. Hunt, Eq. These officers are now transferred to the high court of justice under the judicature acts.

— Record commission. The name of a board of commissioners appointed for the purpose of searching out, classifying, indexing, or publishing the public records of a state or county.

— Record of nisi prins. In English law. An official copy or transcript of the proceedings in an action, entered on parchment and "sealed and passed," as it is termed, at the proper office; it serves as a warrant to the judge to try the cause, and is the only document at which he can judicially look for information as to the nature of the proceedings and the issues joined. Brown.

— Title of record. A title to real estate, evidenced and provable by one or more conveyances or other instruments ali of which are duly entered on the public land records.

— Trial hy record. A species of trial adopted for determining the existence or non-existence of a reconi. When a record is asserted bv one party to exist, and the opposite party denies its existence under the form of a traverse that there is no such record remaining in court as alleged, and issue is joined thereon, this is called an "issue of nul tiel record," and in such case the court awards a trial by inspection and examination of the record. Upon this the party affirming its existence is bound to produce it in court on a day given for the purpose, and, if he fnils to do so, judgment is given for his adversary. Co. Litt. 117b, 260a; 3 Bl. Comm. 331.