What is "court of record"

Record \Rec"ord\ (r[e^]k"[~e]rd), n. [OF. recort, record, remembrance, attestation, record. See Record, v. t.]

1. A writing by which some act or event, or a number of acts or events, is recorded; a register; as, a record of the acts of the Hebrew kings; a record of the variations of temperature during a certain time; a family record.

2. Especially:

   1. An official contemporaneous writing by which the acts of some public body, or public officer, are recorded; as, a record of city ordinances; the records of the receiver of taxes.

   2. An authentic official copy of a document which has been entered in a book, or deposited in the keeping of some officer designated by law.

   3. An official contemporaneous memorandum stating the proceedings of a court of justice; a judicial record.

   4. The various legal papers used in a case, together with memoranda of the proceedings of the court; as, it is not permissible to allege facts not in the record.

3. Testimony; witness; attestation.

   John bare record, saying.
   --John i. 32.

4. That which serves to perpetuate a knowledge of acts or events; a monument; a memorial.

5. That which has been, or might be, recorded; the known facts in the course, progress, or duration of anything, as in the life of a public man; as, a politician with a good or a bad record.

6. That which has been publicly achieved in any kind of competitive sport as recorded in some authoritative manner, as the time made by a winning horse in a race.

   Court of record (pron. r?*k?rd" in Eng.), a court whose acts and judicial proceedings are written on parchment or in books for a perpetual memorial.

   Debt of record, a debt which appears to be due by the evidence of a court of record, as upon a judgment or a cognizance.

   Trial by record, a trial which is had when a matter of record is pleaded, and the opposite party pleads that there is no such record. In this case the trial is by inspection of the record itself, no other evidence being admissible.
   --Blackstone.

   To beat the record, or To break the record (Sporting), to surpass any performance of like kind as authoritatively recorded; as, to break the record in a walking match.

n. (context legal English) A trial court in which a clerk or reporter takes down a record of proceedings, which is preserved at least long enough for all appeals to be exhausted, or for some further period of time provided by law.

A court of record is a legal term referring to a trial court or appellate court in which a court clerk or a court reporter takes down a record of proceedings.

That written record (and all other evidence) is preserved at least long enough for all appeals to be exhausted, or for some further period of time provided by law (for example, in some states, death penalty statutes provide that all evidence must be preserved for an extended period of time). Most courts of record have rules of procedure, and therefore they require that most parties be represented by counsel (specifically, attorneys holding a license to practice law before the specific tribunal). In contrast, in courts not of record, oral proceedings are not recorded, and the judge makes his or her decision based on notes and memory. In most "not of record" proceedings, the parties may appear personally, without lawyers. For example, most small claims courts, traffic courts, justice courts presided over by Justices of the Peace, many administrative tribunals that make initial governmental administrative decisions such as government benefit determinations, and the like, are not courts of record.