Record
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the list of known facts in a person's life, especially in that of a public man; personal history. Also something set down in writing for the purpose of preserving the memory of a fact or event; specifically a register; an authentic or official copy of a document, or account of any facts, acts, or proceedings, whether public or private, entered in a book for preservation; also, the book containing such entries. In' law, authentic or official testimonies in writ ing, contained in rolls of parchment, and preserved in a court of record. 'Conssional Record, a pamphlet published pressional daily during sessions of Congress and containing a record of the proceedings of that body. Conveyances by record, in law, conveyance evidenced by the authority of a court of record, as a conveyance by private act of Legislature or a government grant. Court of record, in law, a court of record is defined to be that where the acts and judicial proceedings are enrolled or recorded; which rolls are called the records of the court, and are of such high authority that their truth is not to be called in question. Nothing can be averred against the record nor shall any plea, or even proof, be admitted to the contrary. And if the existence of a record be denied, it shall be tried by nothing but itself; that is, upon bare inspection whether there be any such record or no; else there will be no end of disputes. Debt on record, in law, a debt which appears to be due by the evidence of a court of record. Geological record, the record of the history of the globe, as written upon the rocks especially by means of fossils. It is imperfect; many gaps existing, some of which may never be filled up. To beat, break, or cut the record, in sporting concerns, to do a distance in less time than has yet been officially recorded, to excel any previous performance. Trial by record, in law, a trial which is heard when a matter of record is pleaded. formerly popular in Great Britain, re-
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 defined a record chiefly as something "contained in rolls of parchment" and preserved in a court of record, and did not even mention the sense most readers would give the word today: a disc of recorded sound. Since then the physical basis of the thing has changed completely — court filings, deeds and registers are kept electronically, US federal courts moved to electronic filing through the PACER system from the late 1980s onward, and the Congressional Record, still published daily as it was in 1921, is now searchable online back to the 1870s. The legal doctrine survives largely intact: courts of record still exist and their entries still carry high presumptive authority, though modern procedure allows clerical errors to be corrected rather than treating the roll as unimpeachable. On the "geological record," which Collier's called "imperfect; many gaps existing, some of which may never be filled up," radiometric dating from the mid-twentieth century gave the rocks an absolute timescale the 1921 writer had no way to supply.
Written for this edition, 2026.