Write short note on Court of Record

Question: Write short note on Court of Record [MPJS 2019]

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Answer

A court of record is a court whose acts and proceedings are enrolled for perpetual memory and testimony. These records are used with high authority and their truth cannot be questioned.

As per Halsbury’s Laws of England, Courts are expressly declared by the statute to be courts of record. In case they are not expressly declared so, the answer lies in the question of whether a court is a court of record with the power to fine or imprison, by statute or otherwise, for contempt of itself or other substantive offenses. If yes, it seems that it is a court of record, whose proceedings are preserved in its archives and is conclusive evidence of that which is recorded therein.

Though the Indian Constitution doesn’t define ‘Court of Record’, this expression is well recognized in the juridical world. In the Indian constitution Article 129 make the Supreme Court the ‘court of record”. Article 129 says: Supreme Court to be a court of record.-The Supreme Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself. Article 215 contains a similar provision and empowers the High Courts of the states to be courts of record, having powers to punish for contempt including the power to punish for contempt of itself.

In Sukhdev Singh Sodhi [1954 AIR 186] case, the SC considered the origin, history, and development of the concept of the inherent jurisdiction of a court of record in India. The court after considering Privy Council and High Court decisions held that the High Court being a court of record has the inherent power to punish for contempt of subordinate courts. The court further held that even after the codification of the law of contempt in India the HC’s jurisdiction as a court of record to initiate proceedings and take up the matter remain unaffected by the Contempt of Courts Act, 1926.

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