I think CA's over-legislating has been discussed enough in this forum that I don't need to add anything.
The real issue I have with any official, or anyone else who might be on the hook if a problem comes up, is that a person who prints a PDF or similar record is making a judgement. In the judgement of the person making the copy, what it says in the metadata about the title, author, or subject isn't important and there's no need to print that on paper.
Do we really want to let notaries, or these disinterested custodians, to do that? If society is going to allow that, the law or rules should explicitly authorize that rather than just telling them they have to make an "accurate reproduction" (CA) or is "full, true, and accurate" (VT draft rules) without specifying what that means.
If everyone involved in a transaction is happy with the transaction, and stays happy, nobody is going to quibble over this. But if one of the parties, or the heir of one of the parties, later becomes unhappy, they're apt to quibble about everything. |
