Record Copies Are not Error-Free

Courthouse record copies of land deeds, wills, and similar documents can easily contain the occasional error. This is particularly true from items recorded in the days when these copies were handwritten by a clerk. Sometimes the error is of little consequence and sometimes it is. The record copy of this 1812 will from Harford County, Maryland, leaves out the last name of the man to whom the testator has sold some property.

Record copies are usually considered to be the legal equivalent of the original document. That does not mean they are error-free. record-copies