public record
Accessible government document
Public record refers to documents and information that government agencies maintain and make available for public inspection.
Court filings, property deeds, birth certificates, and arrest records are typical examples.
The phrase often appears in contexts of transparency or accountability: It's a matter of public record that he was convicted in 2019.
Something "on the public record" is officially documented and accessible to anyone who seeks it.
Federal transparency statute
- freedom of informationPublic access to state records
- redactionObscuring sensitive text
- disclosureAct of revealing information
- exemptionRelease from requirement
sunshine laws · right to know · online portal · certified copy · fee schedule · response time · appeal process
State of being see-through
- accountabilityObligation for one's actions
- oversightSupervision or inadvertent omission
- civic engagementActive citizenship in community
- government accountabilityOfficials answering for decisions
watchdog · audit trail · compliance · official registry · census data · anti-corruption
Documented legal proceedings
- birth certificateOfficial record of arrival
- death certificateOfficial record of passing
- marriage licenseLegal authorization to wed
- property deedLegal land ownership document
tax lien · bankruptcy filing · divorce decree · voter registration · building permit · business license · court judgment · criminal conviction
Place for storing things
- preservationMaintaining something's condition
- historical recordsPreserved accounts of the past
- digitizationAnalog-to-electronic transformation
- microfilmPhotographically reduced documents
cataloging · indexing · vital records · genealogy · family history · ancestry research · national archives · state archives
FOIA
Federal transparency statute
- freedom of informationPublic access to state records
- redactionObscuring sensitive text
- disclosureAct of revealing information
exemption · sunshine laws · right to know · online portal · certified copy · fee schedule · response time · appeal process
transparency
State of being see-through
- accountabilityObligation for one's actions
- oversightSupervision or inadvertent omission
- civic engagementActive citizenship in community
government accountability · watchdog · audit trail · compliance · official registry · census data · anti-corruption
court records
Documented legal proceedings
- birth certificateOfficial record of arrival
- death certificateOfficial record of passing
- marriage licenseLegal authorization to wed
property deed · tax lien · bankruptcy filing · divorce decree · voter registration · building permit · business license · court judgment · criminal conviction · civil lawsuit
repository
Place for storing things
- preservationMaintaining something's condition
- historical recordsPreserved accounts of the past
- digitizationAnalog-to-electronic transformation
microfilm · cataloging · indexing · vital records · genealogy · family history · ancestry research · national archives · state archives · provenance
- public lifeopenness, transparency, visibility, disclosure, accountability
- credit scorescredit score, credit report, credit history, credit bureau, FICO score
- hearingscongressional hearing, congressional hearings, committee hearing, confirmation hearing, impeachment hearings
- copyrightcopyright, copyright law, copyright act, copyright office, copyright notice
- FOIAexemption, redaction, request, requester, response
- classificationsclassified, hierarchical, class, unclassified, categorical
public recordsealed record
Legally restricted documentation
classified information · closed file · classified document · state secret · top secret
public recordsealed record
Legally restricted documentation
privileged communication · juvenile record · trade secret · grand jury proceedings · under seal
public, record, publish, recording, recorded, recorder, publication, publicity, publishing