Antecedent certificate – in practice, this legal term usually finds application in the sphere of Criminal Law, where it refers to official certificate, issued with temporary validity by local courts, stating the life history and any previous convictions of defendant on a criminal lawsuit. The role of this document is to help the court to decide on the seriousness of sentence if the person is found guilty. Criminals with previous crime history usually receive bigger jail punishment. Somewhere called “criminal record”.

The certificate for antecedents also finds usage in the Labor Law, where called “certificate for character and antecedents” and details the same circumstances for concrete applicant on a job position.