A judicial record is the record or official entry of the proceedings in a Court of justice, or of the official act of a judicial officer, in an action or special proceeding.
§ 1904.“Judicial record” defined
Title 2. Of the Kinds and Degrees of Evidence · Chapter 3. Writings · Article 2. Public Writings · Enacted 1872 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 29, 2026
In one sentenceSection 1904 defines a judicial record as the record or official entry of proceedings in a court of justice, or of the official act of a judicial officer, in an action or special proceeding.
Full Text of § 1904
Plain-English Summary
This section supplies the working definition the rest of Article 2's judgment-and-record sections rely on. A judicial record is the record, or the official entry, of what happened in a court of justice, or of an official act performed by a judicial officer, arising out of an action or special proceeding.
That definition covers both the court's own proceedings and the discrete official acts a judge or other judicial officer takes within them, giving the following sections a single term to describe the documents whose conclusive or presumptive effect, and whose vulnerability to impeachment, the rest of this article addresses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a judicial record under Section 1904?
The record or official entry of the proceedings in a court of justice, or of the official act of a judicial officer, in an action or special proceeding.
Does the definition cover a judge's individual official acts, not just full court proceedings?
Yes. It reaches the official act of a judicial officer as well as the record of the court's proceedings generally.
Amendment History
(Enacted in 1872.)
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the West's Annotated California Codes / Thomson Reuters. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: definition of judicial record californiaofficial court record meaning