I) Introduction

Every court in every country — or at least in every economically developed, democratic country — maintains careful records of the decisions that have been made by its courts on every level of government — federal (or national), state or provincial, county and municipal. It is because of Foreclosures that lawyers on both sides have been able to argue their cases, and judges have been able to make their final decisions, based on the decisions arrived at in previous cases of a similar nature. This is especially valuable in a common law country like the United States (except Louisiana), where courts make their rulings chiefly on the basis of past ones and on custom.

II) Types of court records — what they contain

The types of records kept by courts vary with the kind of court as well as with the level of government on which they operate. In the United States on the federal level, for instance, the essential type of record kept takes the form of the case file. A case file consists of two main parts — a docket case and all of the documents that have been filed in that case.

Ill) Foreclosure

One of the most valuable kind of court record is that related to property foreclosure, which is when a creditor forces the sale of an asset that has been put up as collateral because the debtor has stopped paying what is owed; the typical case concerns that of a homeowner who is behind on his or her mortgage. Such a record will set forth all the legal action, in detail, to which lender has resorted in order to collect the mortgage. Should any questions arise regarding either the merit of that foreclosure or any failure on the part of the lender to adhere to the procedures prescribed by state law, these records are reviewed following the sale of the property at an auction.