RECORD 



of enormous numbers of men at k -l 

 its cessation of war industries. K 

 arose out of a committee ap- . 

 pointed " to recommend to the " 

 Government the inquiries which 

 should be made and the stops 

 which should be taken in connec- 

 tion with the restoration of peace 

 conditions." This was formed 

 early in 1917, although before then 

 there had been something of the 

 kind in H. H. Asquith's ministry ; 

 the premier, D. Lloyd George, was 

 its chairman. In Aug., 1917, the 

 ministry was formally established, 

 the first minister being Dr. Chris- 

 topher Addison. Later it was 

 amalgamated with the ministry of 

 national service, the combined de- 

 partments being known as the 

 ministry of national service and 

 reconstruction. It was wound up 

 in Sept., 1920. 



Record. In English law, a col- 

 lection of documents relating to an 

 action. In the higher courts the 

 writ of summons, the pleadings, 

 and all material documents in the 

 case down to the judgement are 

 filed in court, and the whole of 

 these together are called the 

 record. Sometimes, when an action 

 is compromised before trial, the 

 parties ask the court to be allowed 

 to withdraw the record, which is 

 equivalent to asking that the case 

 be withdrawn from the cognizance 

 of the court. At one time all the 

 documents forming the record were 

 engraved on parchment, and fas- 

 tened together so as to form one 

 long sheet. This sheet was then 

 rolled up, and preserved for ever as 

 a memorial in the custody of an 

 official of the chancery, who was 

 called the master of the rolls. 

 Nowadays they are written on 

 paper, and bound up, and are kept 

 in the record office (q.v. ), where 

 they are accessible to the public. 



Courts of record are those courts 

 whose judicial acts and proceedings 

 are preserved. Such courts are 

 divided into two classes, superior 

 and inferior. The former include 

 the House of Lords judicial com- 

 mittee, court of appeal, high 

 court, etc. The superior courts 

 have the power to fine or imprison 

 any person for contempt of their 

 authority, but inferior courts can 

 imprison only for contempt com- 

 mitted in court. 



Record. In music, the name 

 given to a cylinder or disk of hard 

 wax or other material for the repro- 

 duction of the human voice, musi- 

 cal sounds, etc. The perforated roll 

 used in piano players is also known 

 as the record, as is the perforated 

 ribbon used in an automatic tele- 

 graphic apparatus. In general the 

 mechanical or automatic register 

 of any phenomenon is known as a 



65 1 4 



record, e.g. & record of rainfall. See 

 Gramophone ; Phonograph. 



Recorder. In England, a legal 

 official of a city or borough. He is 

 always a barrister of some standing. 

 The appointment and duties of a 

 recorder are now regulated by the 

 Municipal Corporations Act, 1882. 

 Under this statute, when a borough 

 or city has a separate court of quar- 

 ter sessions the crown may ap- 

 point a barrister of 5 years' stand- 

 ing to be recorder. He holds office 

 during good behaviour, and is a 

 J.P. for the borough. He must take, 

 before the mayor and two town 

 councillors, the oath of a justice of 

 the peace, and sign a declaration to 

 discharge the duties of his office 

 well and faithfully. He has prece- 

 dence next after the mayor ; but 

 cannot be M.P. for the borough nor 

 sit on the town council. He must 

 hold his sessions at least once a 

 quarter, and is the sole judge there. 

 He hears certain appeals, and 

 can try almost any crime except 

 murder and treason. Salaries are 

 payable by the -borough. 



Recorder. Instrument of the 

 fipple flute family, having a very 

 soft and sweet tone akin to the 

 song of birds. It was a very fav- 

 ourite instrument in Tudor times, 

 and' is referred to 

 in Elizabethan lit- 

 er a t u r e, e.g. in 

 Hamlet, iii, 2. Like 

 other medieval in- 

 struments, recofd- 

 ers were made in 

 sets or " chests." 

 At Chester there is 

 an 18th century set 

 of four, and at 

 Nuremberg a 16th 

 century set of eight. 



RECORD OFFICE 



The instrument had eight finger- 

 holes, and had a compass of about 

 two octaves. It became known as 



:t= 



Recorder. Sweet-toned instrument 

 akin to the flute 



the flute-d-bec or English flute, 

 and was eventually ousted by the 

 stronger-toned transverse or Ger- 

 man flute. See Six Lectures on the 

 Recorder, C. Welch, 1911. 



Record Office, PUBLIC. British 

 national institution. It is situated 

 N. of Fleet Street, between Chan- 

 cery Lane and Fetter Lane, Lon- 

 don, E.G., on what was known as 

 the Rolls Estate, and is the reposi- 

 tory of state papers from 1100 to 

 the present time. The buildings, in 

 Tudor Gothic style, with tall, 

 deeply embrasured windows, were 

 designed, 1851-66, by Sir James 

 Pennethorne and, 1891-1900, by 

 Sir John Taylor, those with a 

 frontage on Chancery Lane, built 

 in the latter period, incorporating 

 part of the Rolls chapel (q.v. ), and 

 covering the site of the old court 

 of the master of the rolls. The 

 small muniment rooms are ar- 

 ranged along narrow brick-paved 



Record Office, London. Main front 

 of the building, Chancery Lane. 

 Top, right, the museum where rare 

 historical documents are exhibited 



passages, the entrances to which 

 are guarded by iron doors, and the 

 shelves on which the documents 

 are preserved are of slate. The 

 keeper is the master of the rolls, 

 and the staff includes a deputy 

 keeper, secretary, and 21 assistant 

 keepers, the administrative ex- 

 penses in 1920-21 being estimated 

 at 37,850. Facilities ' are offered 

 for private research work, e.g. Dr. 

 Wallace's Shakespearean discov- 

 eries were made by him when 

 examining documents belonging to 

 the court of requests, and students' 

 tickets permit inspection of all 

 papers down to the beginning of 

 the 19th century. There is also a 

 record office in Dublin Castle. 



In England, public records were 

 first ordered to be kept by Henry I 



