A recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales and some other common law jurisdictions.

In the courts of England and Wales, the term recorder currently has two distinct meanings. The senior circuit judge of a borough or city is often awarded the title of "Honorary Recorder". However, "Recorder" is also used to denote a person who sits as a part-time circuit judge.

In England and Wales, originally a recorder was a certain magistrate or judge having criminal and civil jurisdiction within the corporation of a city or borough. Such incorporated bodies were given the right by the Crown to appoint a recorder. He was a person with legal knowledge appointed by the mayor and aldermen of the corporation to 'record' the proceedings of their courts and the customs of the borough or city. Such recordings were regarded as the highest evidence of fact. Typically, the appointment would be given to a senior and distinguished practitioner at the Bar, and it was, therefore, usually executed part-time only, by a person whose usual practice was as a barrister. It carried a great deal of prestige and power of patronage. The recorder of a borough was often entrusted by the mayor and corporation to nominate its Members of Parliament, as was the case with the Recorder of Barnstaple, who in 1545 nominated the two MPs to represent the Borough of Barnstaple. Eventually the recorder became the judge who sat alone, without lay magistrates, in the quarter sessions held for each county borough, and for the larger boroughs which retained the right to hold their own quarter sessions. In the cases where the defendant pleaded "not guilty", the recorder sat with a jury. The only survival today of the historic office is the Recorder of London who is still appointed by the Court of Aldermen of the Corporation of the City of London and thereby becomes a member of that court. He is a senior circuit judge sitting at the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey).

The ancient recorderships of England and Wales now form part of a system of honorary recorderships which are filled by the most senior full-time circuit judges. At each Crown Court centre, a particular judge is appointed "resident judge", leads the team of judges who sit there and provides the essential link between the judiciary and the administration. In the larger city court centres, the resident judge is usually a senior circuit judge who is recruited and appointed specifically to that post. An exception is the Corporation of the City of London which still follows ancient customs as stated above.

In the many smaller towns and cities where the resident judge is not a senior circuit judge, the position is different. The resident judge is deployed specifically to that post by the Lord Chief Justice (with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor) from the ranks of the circuit bench. They then hold office as resident judge for a set period, normally four years, although such appointments are renewable.

Whilst the appointment of an honorary recorder has lain with the borough council since the Courts Act 1971, in practice the resident judge is appointed as the honorary recorder. In a borough that is coincident with an ancient assize, the position is titular; that is, the resident judge is automatically entitled honorary recorder and continues to hold that title until their retirement from the post.

In the case where the resident judge is a fixed-term appointment, it is expected that the city or borough council will appoint them as honorary recorder for the duration of their tenure as resident judge. Boroughs which had a power by charter to appoint a recorder before 1971, but which had no quarter sessions, have a preserved right to appoint anyone, including non-lawyers, as an honorary recorder, but an honorary recorder who is not a judge cannot sit as a judge in court or exercise any judicial functions. The procedure to be followed is that laid down by the Lord Chief Justice in his "Guidelines for the Appointment of Honorary Recorders", which states that it has been the practice of most large city councils to appoint the resident judge to be honorary recorder of the city during his tenure of the office. Some new positions have been created since 1971, for example for the Borough of Redbridge.

The appointment of an honorary recorder is made by the borough council concerned, and although it does not require the approval of a higher authority, the Lord Chief Justice has let it be known that he would be pleased if boroughs considering making such an appointment would first consult the Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales.^{[citation needed]}