how can i find out if someone has taken out a restraining order before

The scenario gets played out every single day in American courts: warring couples cannot work things out, and one takes out an injunction against the other, for the purpose of keeping them away and restricting their access to their home and/or children. The concept of restraining orders, otherwise known in most court systems as Domestic Violence Injunctions, was originally intended to protect one partner from the other because of the danger they posed to them. Unfortunately today this writ is abused more often by those that are just seeking to inconvenience and aggravate the spouse they are about to divorce.