Posts in July 5, 2023

When record clerks make record copies of documents, their prime directive is to copy the document as accurately as possible. The main reason is that the record copy of a document (will, deed, bond, etc.) in a courthouse functions as the legal equivalent of the original if the original is lost. Before typewriters, clerks would hand copy original records into ledgers. Most of the time the clerk would not go to any effort to make the signature look like the signature on the document. But in some cases, particularly if the signature is not in English, the clerk would try to “copy” the signature to match exactly what was written–more “drawing the signature” instead of copying it. It can be seen in the record copy of the will […]