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Recorder
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Recorder

legal official
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
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•History

Recorder, in Anglo-American judicial systems, an officer appointed by a city, county, or other administrative unit to keep legal records. In Englandand Wales the recorder, in the course of time, came to be a locality’s chief legal officer and sole judge at quarter sessions. When the quarter sessions courts were abolished by the Courts Act of 1971, the recorder’s jurisdiction moved to the Crown Court.

Prior to 1971, recorders in England and Wales were required to be barristers of five years’ standing; after that date they could be either barristers or solicitors, but they were required to have 10 years’ standing.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica