Rules of Court · Part 1 · New Jersey
R. 1:38-2 New Jersey Rules of Court, R. 1:38-2: Definition of Court Records, rendered as code with every cross-reference linked
Definition of Court Records
(a) "Court record" includes:
(1) any information maintained by a court in any form in connection with a case or judicial proceeding, including but not limited to pleadings, motions, briefs and their respective attachments, evidentiary exhibits, indices, calendars, dockets, and aggregate data maintained or created by the judiciary for the purpose of statistics;
(2) any order, judgment, opinion, or decree related to a judicial proceeding;
(3) any official transcript or recording of a public judicial proceeding, in any form;
(4) any information in a computerized case management system created or prepared by the court in connection with a case or judicial proceeding;
(5) any record made or maintained by a Surrogate as a judicial officer.
(b) "Court record" does not include:
(1) information gathered, maintained or stored by a governmental agency or other entity to which the court has access but which is not part of the court record as defined by this rule;
(2) unfiled discovery materials in any action.
Note: New Rule 1:38-2 adopted July 16, 2009 to be effective September 1, 2009; subparagraph (a)(1) amended May 30, 2017 to be effective immediately.
Verbatim rule text, unmarked. Nothing here is a summary.
rule 1:38-2 "Definition of Court Records" {
(a) "Court record" includes:
(1) any information maintained by a court in any form in connection with a case or judicial proceeding, including but not limited to pleadings, motions, briefs and their respective attachments, evidentiary exhibits, indices, calendars, dockets, and aggregate data maintained or created by the judiciary for the purpose of statistics;
(2) any order, judgment, opinion, or decree related to a judicial proceeding;
(3) any official transcript or recording of a public judicial proceeding, in any form;
(4) any information in a computerized case management system created or prepared by the court in connection with a case or judicial proceeding;
(5) any record made or maintained by a Surrogate as a judicial officer.
(b) "Court record" does not include:
(1) information gathered, maintained or stored by a governmental agency or other entity to which the court has access but which is not part of the court record as defined by this rule;
(2) unfiled discovery materials in any action.
Note: New Rule 1:38-2 adopted July 16, 2009 to be effective September 1, 2009; subparagraph (a)(1) amended May 30, 2017 to be effective immediately.
}
referenced_by: 1:38-1
source: njcourts.gov // verbatim; changed 2025-09-26; corpus harvested 2026-09-02← R. 1:38-1A · R. 1:38-3 → · chapter 1:38 · all rules
The Rules of Court are a government edict and carry no copyright; the text above is the Judiciary’s own publication, unchanged. Structure, links and highlighting are ours and carry no legal weight. Read the rule on njcourts.gov before you rely on it; amendments take effect each September 1.