The recorder of Cork was a judicial office holder in pre-Independence Ireland. The recorder was the chief magistrate of Cork city: his principal duty was to keep the peace. The office was very similar to that of the recorder of Dublin, except that the recorder of Cork, unlike his Dublin counterpart, did not have the power to preside over any trial involving a capital crime. A statute of 1877 stated that wherever possible the recorder should also be the Chairman of the Cork East Riding Quarter Sessions. The office of the recorder of Cork, like the recorder of Dublin, was an onerous one, involving at least two sittings of the Court every week; as a rule, the recorder had a deputy recorder to assist him. William Waggett, appointed in 1808, delegated all his duties to his Deputy Mr. Wilmot until the latter died in 1815.

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