Court of record

A court of record is 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.

In many states, statutes provide that the power to fine or imprison lies only with courts of record. The rationale is that criminal penalties may only be imposed if there is a right of appeal, and appeals are only meaningful if the trial-level court kept a record of its proceedings.

"Of record" and "not of record" are two polar extremes of a spectrum, and there is a transition zone between. For example, in proceedings before executive branch agencies of the United States federal government, fully formal proceedings of record are governed by the "formal adjudication" or "on the record" provisions of 5 U.S.C. §§ 554, 556, and 557, while informal proceedings or "not on the record" proceedings are governed by § 555. However, many proceedings have intermediate character, with some "of record" characteristics but not others. For example, in some agencies of the U.S. Government, oral arguments in intra-agency appeals are transcribed by a reporter as a matter of the agency's choice, but because the record is not required by statute, other guarantees of §§ 554, 556, and 557 do not apply.

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