Court of Record

COMMENTARY This writer concludes, from the definitions below, that a court of record is a court which must meet the following criteria: 1. power to fine or imprison for contempt 2. keeps a record of the proceedings 3. proceeding according to the common law (not statutes or codes) 4. the tribunal is independent of the magistrate (judge) 5. generally has a seal (optional) Note that a judge is a magistrate and is not the tribunal. The tribunal is either the sovereign himself, or a fully empowered jury (not paid by the government) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed., 425, 426 COURT. ... INTERNATIONAL LAW The person and suite of the sovereign; the place where the sovereign sojourns with his regal retinue, wherever that may be. .... CLASSIFICATION Courts may be classified and divided according to several methods, the following being the more usual: COURTS OF RECORD and COURTS NOT OF RECORD. The former being those whose acts and judicial proceedings are enrolled, or recorded, for a perpetual memory and testimony, and which have power to fine or imprison for contempt. Error lies to their judgments, and they generally possess a seal. Courts not of record are those of inferior dignity, which have no power to fine or imprison, and in which the proceedings are not enrolled or recorded. 3 Bl. Comm. 24; 3 Steph. Comm. 383; The Thomas Fletcher, C.C.Ga., 24 F. 481; Ex parte Thistleton, 52 Cal 225; Erwin v. U.S., D.C.Ga., 37 F. 488, 2 L.R.A. 229; Heininger v. Davis, 96 Ohio St. 205, 117 N.E. 229, 231. A "court of record" is a judicial tribunal having attributes and exercising functions independently of the person of the magistrate designated generally to hold it, and proceeding according to the course of common law, its acts and proceedings being enrolled for a perpetual memorial. Jones v. Jones, 188 Mo.App. 220, 175 S.W. 227, 229; Ex parte Gladhill, 8 Metc. Mass., 171, per Shaw, C.J. See, also, Ledwith v. Rosalsky, 244 N.Y. 406, 155 N.E. 688, 689. .... ----------------------------------------------------------------- See 7 Cal Jur 571 for more info about courts of record 7 California Jurisprudence, Bancroft Whitney (1922), Page 580-581 Courts of Record.--Courts are divided generally into courts of record and those that are not of record. A court of record is a judidical tribunal having attributes and exercising functions independently of the person designated generally to hold it, and proceeding according to the course of the common law.4 In a court of record the acts and judicial proceedings are enrolled, whereas, in courts not of record, the proceedings are not enrolled. The privilege of having these enrolled memorials constitutes the great leading distinction between courts of record and courts not of record.5 4. Ex parte Thistleton, 52 Cal. 220. As to what are "courts of common-law jurisdiction" within the meaning of the federal naturalization act, see Alienage and Citizenship, Vol. 1, p. 911. 5. Hahn v. Kelly, 34 Cal. 391, 94 Am. Dec. 742, per Sawyer, J., concurring. See infra, §§ 26-28, as to records. Under the constitutional revision of 1863, the district, county and probate courts were also courts of record. Caulfield v. stevens, 28 Cal. 118. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Webster's New Practical Dictionary, 386 (1953) G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass. MAGISTRATE A person holding official power in a government; as: a The official of highest rank in a government (chief, or first, magistrate). b An official of a class having summary, often criminal, jurisdiction. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Merriam-Webster On-Line Dictionary MAGISTRATE an official entrusted with administration of the laws ----------------------------------------------------------------- Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed., 1103 MAGISTRATE Person clothed with power as a public civil officer. State ex rel. Miller v. McLeod, 142 Fla. 254, 194 So. 628, 630. A public officer belonging to the civil organization of the state, and invested with powers and functions which may be either judicial, legislative, or executive. But the term is commonly used in a narrower sense, designating, in England, a person intrusted with the commission of the peace, and, in America, one of the class of inferior judicial officers, such as justices of the peace and police justices. Martin v. State, 32 Ark. 124; Ex parte White, 15 Nev. 146, 37 Am.Rep. 466; State v. Allen, 83 Fla. 655, 92 So. 155, 156; Merritt v. Merritt, 193 Iowa 899, 188 N.W. 32, 34. .... The word "magistrate" does not necessarily imply an officer exercising any judicial functions, and might very well be held to embrace notaries and commissioners of deeds. Schultz v. Merchants' Ins. Co., 57 Mo. 336. ----------------------------------------------------------------- California Penal Code 7. Words and phrases....The following words have in this code the signification attached to them in this section, unless otherwise apparent from the context:.... 9. The word "magistrate" signifies any one of the officers mentioned in Section 808. .... 807. Magistrate defined. A magistrate is an officer having power to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person charged with a public offense. (Enacted 1872.) 808. Persons designated as magistrates The following persons are magistrates: 1. The judges of the Supreme Court 2. The judges of the courts of appeal. 3. The judges of the superior courts. 4. The judges of the municipal courts. 5. The judges of the justice courts. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed., 1602, 1603 SUIT Old English Law The witnesses or followers of the plaintiff. 3 Bl. Comm. 295. See Secta. Modern Law A generic term, of comprehensive signification, and applies to any proceeding by one person or persons against another or others in a court of justice in which the plaintiff pursues, in such court, the remedy which the law affords him for the redress of an injury or the enforcement of a right, whether at law or in equity. See Kohl v. U.S., 91 U.S. 375, 23 L.Ed. 449; Weston v. Charleston, 2 Pet. 464, 7 L.Ed. 481; Syracuse Plaster Co. v. Agostini Bros. Bldg. Corporation, 169 Misc. 564 7 N.Y.S.2d 897. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed., 1677 TRIBUNAL The seat of a judge; the place where he administers justice. The whole body of judges who compose a jurisdiction; a judicial court; the jurisdiction which the judges exercise. See Foster v. Worcester, 16 Pick. (Mass.) 81. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Webster's New Practical Dictionary, 707 (1953) G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass. TRIBUNE 1. In ancient Rome, a magistrate whose special function was to protect the interests of plebeian citizens from the patricians. 2. Any defender of the people. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Merriam-Webster On-Line Dictionary COURT 1. the residence of a sovereign or similar dignitary 2: a sovereign and his officials and advisers as a governing power 3: an assembly of the retinue of a sovereign 4: an open space enclosed by a building or buildings 5: a space walled or marked off for playing a game (as tennis or basketball) 6: the place where justice is administered; also: a judicial body or a meeting of a judicial body