public document

1. Document issued or published for public knowledge.

2. Document (such as court records, land deeds, and public registers) authenticated by a public officer and made available for public reference and use. Statements by public officers in such documents in their official capacity are admissible evidence of fact in civil matters. Also called public record.

3. Described by the 1961 'Hague Convention Abolishing The Requirements Of Legalization For Foreign Public documents' as (1) a document which emanates from an authority or an official connected with the courts or tribunals of the State, including those emanating from a public prosecutor, a clerk of a court, or a process server, (2) administrative documents, (3) notarial acts, (4) official certificates placed on documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as those recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a certain date and official and notarial authentication of signatures. Also called public record.