Recorder (judge)

A recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales and some other common law jurisdictions.

England and Wales

In the courts of England and Wales, the term recorder () currently has two distinct meanings. The senior circuit judge of a borough or city is often awarded the title of "Honorary Recorder". However, "Recorder" is also used to denote a person who sits as a part-time circuit judge.

Historic office

In England and Wales, originally a recorder was a certain magistrate or judge having criminal and civil jurisdiction within the corporation of a city or borough. Such incorporated bodies were given the right by the Crown to appoint a recorder. He was a person with legal knowledge appointed by the mayor and aldermen of the corporation to 'record' the proceedings of their courts and the customs of the borough or city. Such recordings were regarded as the highest evidence of fact. Typically, the appointment would be given to a senior and distinguished practitioner at the Bar, and it was, therefore, usually executed part-time only, by a person whose usual practice was as a barrister. It carried a great deal of prestige and power of patronage. The recorder of a borough was often entrusted by the mayor and corporation to nominate its Members of Parliament, as was the case with the Recorder of Barnstaple, who in 1545 nominated the two MPs to represent the Borough of Barnstaple. Eventually the recorder became the judge who sat alone, without lay magistrates, in the quarter sessions held for each county borough, and for the larger boroughs which retained the right to hold their own quarter sessions.