The earliest organized societies and ancient civilizations have established means of archiving events, quarrels, scientific discoveries, and taxation policies. Examples of these deeds can be found among the ruins of ancient Babylonian, Aztec, and Egyptian structures and artifacts. Such activities have been passed on from generation to generation, and have helped establish our identities as a people and the world as we know it.
Public records are documents and pieces of information that are not generally considered confidential. These documents are duly stored, protected and distributed by government entities for public use. Documents that fall under the category of public records are most legal actions, documentations of vital events such as births, deaths, marriages, and divorces, criminal or arrest records, and government reports, among others.
It is important to remember that public records serve a variety of purposes. This premise is one of the main reasons why such recordings are made available to the public. For example, marriage licenses formally legalize a celebrated union between husband and wife, divorce records officially terminate a dysfunctional marriage after the approval of a judge in a Court of Law, and arrest records are vital requirements in background checking for employees in most companies around the world to ensure that quality assurance standards are maintained, and future risks are mitigated. Moreover, making reports of government activities are made public for accountability and transparency. Aside from its many legal implications, public registers are also important in interpreting, studying and establishing statistical, socioeconomic, and demographic trends in a jurisdiction. Without knowing the things that shaped our world and us as individuals, we would have a lesser sense of identity.
Matters concerning public records in the United States are guided by the Freedom of Information Act. Furthermore, different states implement different rules regarding public records according to their own take on the said legislation. These diversities range from strict to lenient guidelines in obtaining copies of any public record.
As described above, different states implement different regulations concerning public records. Such rules also encompass the storage, maintenance, and distribution of these documents. Common repositories for public documents include the State Departments of Health, District Clerks, Clerks of Court, County Courts, and State Departments of Justice.
A fundamental characteristic of man is to find ways to live a more convenient life. This idea has somewhat materialized into an invention called the Internet. Over the years, the Internet has developed into a marketplace of goods and amenities, aside from being a superhighway of information. Following the trend, government bodies and independent service providers have made public records search available in the World Wide Web to cater to more requests from end-users. Looking at a person\'s background is now achievable with a few clicks right at the comfort of your own dwelling. With these new ways in performing a records search, good amounts of cash, time and effort can be saved, and urgent matters that require the presence of a particular record can be answered at the soonest possible time.
