The Register of Judgment, Orders and Fines is a statutory

Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...

 register

Public records

Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential. For example, in California, when a couple fills out a marriage license application, they have the option of checking the box as to whether the marriage is "confidential" or "Public"...

 in England and Wales

England and Wales

England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...

 that maintains a record of:

• Judgments entered in the High Court;
• Judgments entered in county courts;
• Administration orders made under section 112 of the County Courts Act 1984
  County Courts Act 1984
  The County Courts Act 1984 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the long title of the Act is "An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to county courts". The Act replaced the County Courts Act 1959....
  
  ;
• Orders
  Court order
  A court order is an official proclamation by a judge that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out of certain steps by one or more parties to a case...
  
   restricting enforcement made under section 112A of that Act;
• Sums which are, for the purposes of the 1980 Act, sums adjudged to be paid by a conviction
  Conviction
  In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime.The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal . In Scotland and in the Netherlands, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which counts as an acquittal...
  
   or order of a magistrates' court
  Magistrates' Court
  A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
  
  .

History

The Register of County Court Judgments was established by Parliament in 1852, originally maintained by the Lord Chancellor's Department, until it was transferred to Registry Trust in 1985. Details of administration orders made against individuals in county courts were added from 1993, and details of Child Support Agency liability orders were added from 1997.

The Courts Act 2003

Courts Act 2003

The Courts Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom implementing many of the recommendations in Sir Robin Auld's in England and Wales...

 extended the register to include High Court judgements from 6 April 2006, and renamed it the Register of Judgements, Orders and Fines. Enforced Tribunal Awards for money against individuals and companies have been added since 1 April 2009.

The register is currently regulated by the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines Regulations 2005 as amended by the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines (Amendments) Regulations 2009

Registry Trust

The register is operated by Registry Trust Limited on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. Registry Trust was originally established in 1985 by the predecessor of the Ministry of Justice, the Lord Chancellor's Department

Lord Chancellor's Department

The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales....

, and is a not-for-profit company that is entirely independent of the government. Prior to that date, the register was run by the Lord Chancellor's Department directly, but was proving costly to maintain. As the register is crucial for performing credit-worthiness checks, the government transferred operation to an independent and self-financing organisation, Registry Trust.

Registry Trust also operate similar registers for Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, the Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

 and Jersey

Jersey

Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...