legal records
Official case papers
Legal records are official documents created or maintained by courts, government agencies, or legal institutions.
They include court filings, judgments, contracts, deeds, and other papers with legal significance.
The term often appears in contexts of public access: The legal records showed three prior convictions.
Legal records may be sealed or expunged under certain conditions.
- affidavitsSworn written legal statements
- docketsScheduled case lists
- case filesOrganized investigation documents
- exhibitsDisplays for viewing
- chain of custodyDocumented evidence handling sequence
contracts · judgments · motions · statutes · transcripts · licenses · charters · subpoenas · precedents · land titles · agreements · notarized document · verdicts · birth certificate · marriage license · treaties · pleadings · deeds
- historical recordsdiary, annual reviews, letter, census data, census returns
- ancient lawsCode of Hammurabi, Hammurabi, Roman law, Twelve Tables, Ten Commandments
- court recordscourt documents, court transcripts, court cases, case files, court orders
- government recordsstate laws, federal contracts, executive orders, federal regulations, presidential papers
- legal recordscourt orders, court decisions, court filings, court rolls, court reports
- diplomaticscharters, deeds, diplomas, briefs, royal charters
legal recordspersonal diaries
Private daily written records
personal correspondence · private letters · gossip · hearsay · rumors