record

The record was the grant, and without it the title was not divested.

+ 4 more definitions — see all 12 over time

Record, in its broadest sense, is a written memorial, public or private, of what has been said or done. It is ordinarily applied to public records only, in which sense it is a written memorial made by a public officer, judicial, legislative, or executive, authorized by law to perform that function, and intended to serve as evidence of something written, said, or done. 6 Call (Va.) 78; 1 Dana (Ky.) 595; 49 Maine 345; 101 111. App. 490. Any record required by law to be kept by an officer, or which he keeps as necessary or convenient to the discharge of his official duty, is a public 'record. 15 Wall. (U. S.) 123; 123 Ind. 197; 1 Pa. St. 224. A judicial record is the written memorial of proceedings had in court, kept by the proper officers of the court. The common-law record was an enrollment of the pleadings, a statement in formal language of each proceeding had in the progress of the cause, and the judgment. Steph. PI. 61. The more common modern practice is to file the pleadings, etc., with the clerk's entries of proceedings on the trial without enrollment. In Appellate Practice. The term "record" is used in two senses, as comprising, generally, all the matters certified and transmitted by the lower court to show the proceedings therein, and in a more limited sense as signifying only the record proper, and not the abstract or bill of exceptions.

In this limited sense, it includes the pleadings (22 111. 326), the process, and the return thereof (22 Me. 442), the verdict" (60 111. App. 580) or findings (34 Minn. 330), and judgment (60 111. App. 580), but not the clerk's minutes (94 N. Y. 508), the opinion of the court below (140 111. 637), interlocutory motions or orders (82 Ind. 624; 109 111. 245), the evidence (23 Mich. 526; 91 U. S. 127), though documentary (87 Ind. 221), nor the instructions (72 U. S. 663; 119 Ind. 35).

CONTRACT OF. See Contract.

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.

1, V. To preserve the memory of, by committing to writing or printing or by inscription; to write or ent«r in 'ofl Bcial ' Commonwealth v. Teevens, 143 Mass. 215-16 (1887), cases. ^[l Greenl. Ev. §313. s Eespublica v. Cobbett, 3 Call. *4r5 (1798). < State V. Warren, 17 Tex. 388 (1856). As to discharge and forfeiture, see 18 Cent. Law J. 245-49 (1884), cases. See also 9 Pet. 339, 356; 15 W. N. C. 229; 30 Cal. 639; 53 111.486; 33Ind.219; 12Kan.465; 73 Me. 564; 43Md.306: 121 Mass. 84; 26 Miss. 54; 56 N. H. 178; 6 Wend. 330; 36 Barb. 433; 2 Greg. 316; 37 Pa. 181. « Story, Eq. PI. § 402; 4 Mart., La., 489; 7 id. 282; 8 id. 516. books for authentic evidence; to transcribe, in permanent form, for reference. 2, n. A memorial of what has been done; a writing or document preserved as evidence; authentic written evidence, considered as either public or private, but usually public. See Writing, Public; Recordum. The acts and judicial proceedings of a court of record are enrolled in parchment for a perpetual memorial and testimony; and the rolls are called the "records " of the oom-t.' See Court, Of record. Judicial record. An official record of proceedings in a court of justice. Usage, in England, has made parchment the material tor perpetual memorials. In the United States, records are kept in bovmd books of linen paper, parchment, as the material, no longer entering into the defbaition. In many expressions, refemng to proceedings before courts of review, what is really meant is a copy of the record; as, in the expressions " defect in the record," " diminution of the record," "show error by the record," " error apparent upon the face" or "in the record," "the record shows" or " does not show," " remit the record." A record, or judicial record, is a precise histoiy of a suit from its commencement to its termination, including the conclusion of the law thereon, drawn up by the proper officer, for the purpose of perpetuating the exact state of the facts. In the language of Lord Coke, " records are memorials or remembrancers, in rolls of parchment, of the proceedings and acts of a court of justice, which hath power to hold plea according to the course of the common law." * Matter of record. Any judicial proceeding entered upon the records of the court in which it originates, or to which it is carried for review. Thus, the pleadings in an action being entered upon the records of the proper court and filed with its officer as the authentic histoiy of the suit, are thence termed a matter or matters of record. Opposed, " matter in deed," g. u Of record. On record; recorded. Opposed, not of record: unrecorded; not legally recorded. Contracts of record. Express contracts evidenced by some matter on record in a court; as, a judgment, or a charge in that nature. >3B1. Com. 24. "Davidson v. Murphy, 13 Conn. 317 (1839), Williams, C. J.; Coke, Litt. 260 a. See also 18 F. R. 609; 2 Ark. 62; 11 id. 365; 34 Cal. 422; 44 Conn. 53; 2 Dak. 470; 49 Merges any other contract or ground of action; is, in effect, an estoppel, q. v.; requires no consideration; binds the debtor's realty; is avoided by fraud or illegality; and is discharged by satisfaction entered on the record itself. Affidavits, depositions, and other matters of evidence, though appearing in the transcript of the proceedings of a common-law court, do not form part of the record, unless made so by an agreed statement of the facts, a bill of exceptions, a special verdict, or a demurrer to the evidence. They must be made a part by some regular proceeding at (he time of trial and before the rendition of judgment.^ Nul tiel record. No such record. A plea that there is no such matter of record in existence as the opposite party alleges.^ Puts in issue only that fact; and is met by the production of the record itself, valid upon its face, or an exemplification duly authenticated. A defense which requires evidence to contradict the record admits its existence and seeks to avoid its effect— by special plea, as at common law, or by an equivalent. Detects on the face of the record may be taken advantage of upon production, but detects which require extrinsic evidence to make them apparent must be formally alleged before they can be proven,^ See Appaeere, De non, etc. Denial of a record of a foreign court is tried by a jury, because the existence of the record to be inspected must first be proven.* Judicial records are " of such incontroulable credit and verity that they admit no averment, plea, or proof to the contrary; and if such record be alleged, and it be pleaded that there is no such record, it shall be tried only by itself.'' • This is called trial by record, and is by bare inspection whether there is any such record or not; otherwise, there would be no end to disputes." See Inspection, 2. The, records of the domestic courts of England and of some of the States are held to import absolute verity, as well in relation to jurisdictional as to other facts, in all collateral proceedings. Public policy and the dignity of the courts are supposed to require that no averment shall be admitted to contradict the record. But the rule has no extra-territorial force.' See Jurisdiction, 2. If there appears any material mistake of the clerk in making up a record the court will direct him to amend it.^ Courts of record may at any time, of their own motion, without notice, correct the mistake of a recording officer so as to make the record conform to > Baltimore, &c. R. Co. v. Trustees, 91 U. S. 130 (1875), cases, Clifford, J. See also Roanoke Land, &c. Co. v. Hickson, 80 Va. 691 (1885), cases. '_ [3 Bl. Com. 331. s HiU V. Mendenhall, 21 Wall. 456 (1874), cases, Waite, C. J.; Clark v. Melton, 10 S. C. 606 (1883). ' Basset v. United States, 9 Wall. 40 (1869), cases. 'Coke, Litt. 260a; 13 Conn. *218. •3BI. Com. 24, 331. ' Thompson v. Whitman, 18 Wall. 468(1873), Bradley, the truth. They are the exclusive judges of the propriety aiid ot the proof.' SeeEEBOK, 8(1); Mispeision, 2; Nunc Pro Tuko. The old notion that a record remains in the breast •of the court only till the end of the term has yielded ■to necessity, convenience, and common sense.' See Term, 4. Becorder. 1. An ofificer charged with the preparation and custody of records, especially records of deeds of all descriptions; a register, q. v. 3. An officer, in cities of a few States, who exercises original jurisdiction in determining some of the more common criminal complaints, and adjudicates matters of a limited, civil nature. Anciently, one who recited or testified on recollec-.tion, as occasion required, what had previously passed in coui-t, and this was the duty of the judges, thence 'Called recordeurs.^ In England, he is often a person learned in the law whom the magistrate of a city, by vii-tue of the king's, ■grant, associates with himself for his direction in judicial proceedings. The recorder of the city of London is practically the judge in the Lord Mayor's court of the city.* Eeeording. Copying an instrument into the public records, in a book kept for that purpose, by or under the superintendence of the officer appointed therefor. 8 Recording Acts. Statutes which regulate the official recording of conveyances, mortgages, bills of sale, hypothecations, assignments for the benefit of creditors, articles of agreement, and other sealed instruments, for the purpose of informing the public, creditors, and purchasers,. of transactions affecting the ownership of property and the pecuniary responsibility of individual persons. Also, statutes which regulate the registration of vessels. Compare Registry. Public records, by construction of law, are notice to a.11 persons of what they contain. Their contents are matters of public knowledge, because the law requires Ihem to be kept, authorizes them to be used, and secures to all persons access to them that knowledge of them may be public; and thence imputes to all interested persons that knowledge the opportunity to acquire which it has provided. The law assmnes the iGUmau v. Libbey, 4 Cliff. 454, 460 (1878), cases, ■Clifford, J.; Blanchard v. Ferdinand, 132 Mass. 390 (1882); Hovey v. Mc Donald, 109 U. S. 157 (1883). = Rhoads V. Commonwealth, 15 Pa. 276 (1850). s Stephen, Plead. App. xix, note 11. 1 Cowell's Law Diet.; 1 Steph. Hist Cr. Law Eng. 117; fuimiment and not the defeat of its own ends. It will not permit its policy to be gainsaid, not even by a plea of personal ignorance of its existence or extent. It would defeat that purpose not to presume with conclusive force that the notice, which it was their office to communicate, had reached the party interested in receiving it.^ See Acknowledgment, 2; Authentication; Delivery, 4; Diminution; Ebroe, 2 (3); Evidence; Exemplification; Face, 1; Faith, Full, etc.; Falsify, 2; Index; Judgment; Lodge, 1 (2); Lost, 2; Notice, 1; Quasi; Remit; Satisfaction, 1.

1. A court having power to fine or imprison for contempt; a court of which the proceedings were entered in writing (formerly on parchment), a copy of which was conclusive evidence of the fact of such proceedings at another trial; a King's court as distinct from a subject's; v. Court, 117. 2. An enrolment or memorandum made in a court or registry, formerly necessarily on parchment. 3. Anciently, the proceedings of a court, although oral; or a plea thereof. 4. The official instrument containing an account of the proceedings in a court of justice, the history of the case; v. Nisi prius. Trial by record: when the issue turns upon a record, and is tried by the inspection of the court without witness or jury. Anciently (v. Record, 3), by the proceedings in a previous action as proved orally by witnesses. Matter of record: matter evidenced by record, and which can therefore be proved and disproved only by the record itself or an authorized copy.

V. To enter in writing, for preservation; to make memorial in official books; to transcribe in permar nent form, for future reference; to write out as authentic evidence. Record, n.: ervation of its contents; a memorial in official books of what has been done; a transcript in form, for permanent use. Judicial records are those kept of proceedings of courts. There are manyothers, such as the record of deeds, and the records kept in various public offices of their official transactions; these are designated by the general expression, official or public records, and eaoh is known by the designation appropriate to the subject-matter. To register and registry {q. v.) are terms nearly equivalent to the verb and noun record, except that, if registry is employed in the statute directing the making and keeping the transcripts in question, it is the more appropriate name within that jurisdiction, and vice versa. The difference between the employment of the two words seems more a matter of local usage than of any distinction of meaning. English definitions have generally made writing upon parchment essential to the definition of a judicial record. This is founded on long usage, in that kingdom, of making' judicial records on that material. See Bumll, for an interesting historical sketch of English practice in recording judicial transactions. No general practice of employing parchment is understood to obtain within the United States. Records are usually kept in bound paper books, and parchment does not enter into the definition, according to American visage. With respect more particularly to judicial records and their proper contents, the term has a special use in reference to proceedings of courts of error or appeal: their decisions constantlj' speak of the "contents of the record;" "what must appear by the recoi-d;" "defects in the record;" "diminution of the record;" "the appellant must show error by the record," &c. Strictly, if these expressions are construed in a concrete sense, as designating any distinct documentary entity, they must be considered as used by elision for copy of the record. The document corporally before the court is an officially authenticated copy or transcript of the proceedings which erence is to the various judicial steps in the cause as they have been recorded. Taken in this sense, the unity of the record is theoretic rather than actual; there is not necessarily any one book in which all the proceedings in a cause necessary to a review are continuously transcribed. The successive papers as draughted and served or used may exist in files; but they exist as matter of record. And the meaning of the expressions quoted is, that the appellate court requires from the appellant and proceeds upon a complete authentic copy or transcript of the proceedings as they have been recorded. Thus the expression " the record," in connection with review, imports a history of the cause from its commencement; from the issuing of process to final judgment. It embraces the successive judicial steps which have been taken and are necessary to show jurisdiction and regularity of procedure: the process, writ, or summons, with proof of service; the pleadings, minutes of trial, and verdict, if a jury cause; exhibits and proofs, if an equity cause; and judgment or decree; also, ancillary and interlocutory proceedings, entering into and supporting the action to be revised. But testimony of witnesses, documentary evidence offered on trial, arguments of counsel, and opinions of judges are not proper parts of the record: they must be brought before an appellate court, when drawn in question, by other and additional means. There are three kinds of records; riz., judicial, as an attainder; ministerial, on oath, as an office or inquisition found; by way of conveyance, as a deed enrolled. Wharton. Record of nisi prins. In the practice of English common-law courts, is an official transcript or copy of the proceedings in an action, entered on parchment, 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 between the parties. Record and -writ clerk. Four officers of the court of chancery were designated by this title, whose duty it was to file bills to the initial letter of the surname of the first plaintiff in a suit. Bunt Eq. These officers are now transferred to the high court of justice under the judicature acts. Record commission. The style or title of a board of officers charged with tearching out and restoring, publishing, and indexing public records. Recording acts. The name by which the statutes are designated which in any state govern the placing of conveyances, mortgages, &c., on public record, and the effect of such records as constructive notice. The theory and purpose of these acts is to make known the chain of title to landed property within the state, and enable persons proposing to buy or lend upon lands, to learn of any adverse titles or claims. The general operation of the recording acts is, that in each county of the state a public of Bce is maintained for the record of instruments transferring or incumbering lands within the county. To entitle an instrument to be recorded, it must be acknowledged or proved by a subscribing witness; and, this requirement being complied with, the grantee or incumbrancer has the right to have it transcribed at length upon the books of the office. This being done, gives constructive notice, by the provisions of the recording acts, to all the world, of the existence and contents of the instrument as recorded. Any person to whom the lands may be afterwards offered for sale, or as security for a loan, is chargeable with the duty of examining the record, where he may find the prior deed or mortgage; and, if he omits this precaution, he runs the risk of third persons having rights in the land which will be adjudged siiperior to his own, by reason of his neglect to examine. Conversely, a grantee or mortgagee who neglects to place his deed or mortgage upon the record is liable to lose the property in favor of a subsequent purchaser for value or lender, who bought or loaned in ignorance of the unrecorded grant or charge. Actual notice of an instrument, or reason to suspect its existence, will in general operate to same as if the instrument had been recorded. For the nature and operation of these laws, their varying provisions in the different states, and the decisions under them, see U. S. Dig. tit. Deed.

evidence. A written memorial made by a public officer authorised by law to perform that function, and intended to serve as evidence of something written, said or done. Records may be divided into those which relate to the proceedings of congress and the state legislatures—the courts of common law—the courts of chancery—and those which are made so by statutory provisions. 1. Legislative acts. The acts of congress and of the several legislatures, are the highest kind of records. The printed journals of congress have been so considered. 1 Whart. Dig. tit. Evidence, pl. 112; and see Dougl. 593; Cowp. 17.—2. The proceedings of the courts of common law are records. But every minute made by a clerk of a court for his own future guidance in making up his record, is not a record. 4 Wash. C. C. Rep. 698.—3. Proceedings in courts of chancery are said not to be, strictly speaking, records; but they are so considered. Gresley on Ev. 101.—4. The legislatures of the several states have made the enrolment of memory of the facts they contain, and declared that the copies thus made should have the effect of records. By the constitution of the United States, art. 4, s. 1, it is declared that "full faith and credit shall be given, in each state, to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state; and the congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof." In pursuance of this power, congress have passed several acts directing the manner of authenticating public records, which will be found under the article Authentication. Numerous decisions have been made under these acts some of which are here referred to. 7 Cranch, 471; 3 Wheat. 234; 4 Cowen, 292; 1 N. H. Rep. 242; 1 Ohio Rep. 264; 2 Verm. R. 263; 5 John. R. 37; 4 Conn. R. 380; 9 Mass. 462; 10 Serg. & Rawle, 240; 1 Hall's N. Y. Rep. 155; 4 Dall. 412; 5 Serg. & Rawle, 523; 1 Pet. S. C. Rep. 352. Vide, generally, 18 Vin. Ab. 170; 1 Phil. Ev. 288; 1 Bac. Ab. 169; 1 Kent, Com. 260; Archb. Civ. Pl. 395; Gresley on Ev. 99; Stark. Ev. Index, h. t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; Co. Litt. 260; 10 Pick. R. 72.