copy

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Copy of an Austro-Hungarian marriage certificate from 1854

The copy is generally an identical (identical), i.e. verbatim, reproduction of a document, especially in legal dealings with the officially or notarially confirmed reproduction of an original with the same name.

General

Copies are required if the original is not being put into circulation, is not available or a certain process is to be made known to several parties at the same time. Copies (derived from "copying") of paper-bound documents used to be made by copying the original in handwriting or with a typewriter, until the photocopy was invented. In these copies, the signature or a signature was always indicated by “signed. (Name) ”. Copying a privately written document using someone else's handwriting or typewriter also changed the visual appearance of the original. The requirement of an optical match has not always been regarded as a necessary requirement for a certified copy.

After it was possible to produce photographs and photocopies, the use of photocopies for the creation of certified copies was questioned, referring to the literal meaning of "copy". An ordinance of October 21, 1942 with the title “Ordinance to Simplify the Procedure in the Field of Notarization Law” made it clear for the first time that the creation of a certified copy by photo is permitted. With the introduction of photocopies, the judiciary and notaries were initially unsure of whether they could be used in the production of copies. With the Notarization Act of August 28, 1969, this dispute was ended by the revision of Section 39 BeurkG. There, the "copy" is legally defined : "When certifying copies, prints, photocopies and the like (copies) ... ..". Since then, photocopying has been the legal term, rarely used in everyday language, for photographic reproduction. With this formulation, the legislature has also made it clear that it is not concerned with the technique of making a copy, but with the criterion of the content being consistent with the original. With the choice of words “and the like”, the legislature has even farsightedly allowed further technical developments such as the now possible certified electronic copy.

In legal transactions, a distinction is made between simple (uncertified), certified and certified electronic copies. The purpose of the certified copy is for the notary to confirm that the content of a specific copy matches a specific main copy. The optical match is not required. The evidential value of a certified copy is higher than that of an unauthorized simple copy.

Certification by authorities

The certification by authorities notarization called. State laws enable authorities to provide official certification. The legal basis for the official certification of signatures and copies can be found in § 33 and § 34 of the Administrative Procedure Act (VwVfG) of the federal government or in the parallel provisions of the federal states. Parallel provisions in social law are §§ 29, 30 of the Social Code (SGB-X). This stipulates that every authority holding the seal is authorized to provide official certification. It must always be a seal-bearing body, because the official seal is required as part of the certification note in accordance with Section 33 (3) No. 4 VwVfG for the legal validity of an official certification.

Authorities may only officially certify copies if the signed original was issued by an authority or the copy is required for submission to another authority. Then it is confirmed with an official seal and signature that the original was available and that the copy corresponds with this in terms of content. This official certification is only valid for submission to an authority that must be named in the certification note. Machine-created official documents (not signed notices) lack the authenticity features of an original document and cannot be authenticated. If the issuing of certified copies from official registers and archives is exclusively reserved for other authorities by law, official certification is excluded. In certain register to those documents (personal documents, extracts from the register of associations , land registry excerpts ) remains the legalization therefore subject to the issuing authorities.

According to § 65 BeurkG, each administrative authority is authorized to create certified copies of its own documents (§ 65 sentence 3 BeurkG), whereby the formal requirements of § 42 BeurkG do not apply because the BeurkG does not apply to official certifications. With official certification, an authority certifies the authenticity of a signature (or a hand sign) or the correctness of a copy of a document that has not been issued by an authority for the purpose of use in administrative procedures or for other purposes for which public certification is not required . The evidential value of these official certifications is limited to the purpose stated in the certification note. The authority of the administrative authorities to certify copies of their own documents or of documents from other administrative authorities in the prescribed form with unrestricted evidential value remains unaffected.

Certification by notaries

According to § 20 BNotO, only notaries are responsible for the public certification of copies . This public certification is not as restricted in terms of origin or content of the originals or their target group as the official certification. In the course of his official activity, the notary issues a certificate that a copy, a copy, a photocopy or the like corresponds to the content of the main document (original, copy, simple or certified copy, document, drawing, plan, etc.). Occasionally a notary is asked to provide a simple copy with an authentication note in the erroneous belief that this would become more legally binding through embossing seals and the signature of the notary; it is not so. A simple copy does not become a “certified copy” through certification, so that no legal “added value” is created. With his certification, the notary merely establishes that the copy was available and that it corresponds to the original; However, apart from recognizable defects, he does not deal with the content of the copy. Rather, the copy is more binding, but it can only be created by an original and only by a notary.

Notarial certification

The certification note is a simple certificate according to § 39 BeurkG. The certification note must state whether the main writing is an original, a copy, a certified or a simple copy ( Section 42 (1) BeurkG). In this context, it is up to the notary to check whether the main writing contains any deficiencies. Because Section 42 (2) BeurkG explicitly lists gaps, changes or deletions or similar changes that the notary has to determine in his certification note. The certified copy is a duplicate (= copy) of a document in which the certification note confirms that the content is identical to the main copy. The original from which the certified copy is made can be the original, copy or self-certified copy of the document and does not have to come from the notary himself. Effectiveness requirements are the confirmation that the content is identical with the main font, the signature of the exhibitor and the affixing of the notarized embossed or color printing seal. In addition, the place and date of issue must be stated. The main document is the document from which a copy is to be made. Main documents can be public or private documents, documents, copies or copies. Notarized copies can also be made of civil status documents; However, these are not themselves a civil status certificate within the meaning of Section 55 PStG and do not enjoy their evidential value. However, it is sufficient to submit a notarized copy of a civil status deed to the land registry , as a public deed within the meaning of Section 29 (1) sentence 2 GBO is also a copy of the properly issued civil status deed made by the notary public.

Evidential value

For the evidential value of a copy within the framework of the documentary evidence, rules of evidence under civil procedure law apply, which compel the judge to have a certain understanding of the facts ( Section 286 (2) ZPO). The submission of the original serves to ascertain the authenticity and (external) faultlessness of the document with sufficient certainty. In the case of private documents, the requirement to present the document with the original signature must be adhered to, because the authenticity and accuracy of the document can only be ascertained with sufficient certainty on the basis of this document. In the case of a private document, the documentary evidence can only be obtained by presenting the original document in accordance with Section 420 ZPO. The signed private document presented in the original, if it is authentic and free of errors, provides evidence that the issuer has made the declarations contained in the document ( § 416 ZPO).

A simple copy is not a document because it does not reveal who it came from and because it is only a reproduction of the original without anyone guaranteeing its accuracy. The mere photocopy of a document is also not a document as such in the sense of §§ 415 ff. ZPO. The certified copy fulfills the requirements of a public document “with regard to certification” and is equated with the original of a public document ( § 435 sentence 1 ZPO). According to the case law of the Federal Court of Justice , the submission of a private document in a certified copy cannot be equated with the submission of the original, because the authenticity and (external) accuracy of the original cannot be determined with certainty.

If, according to the free conviction of the court, the agreement of a legible, unauthorized copy of the document with the original is established, then a documentary evidence can also be provided. Insofar as there is no doubt as to the authenticity and authenticity of the original or the reproduction when the copy of the document is presented, in particular due to the lack of a corresponding party statement, the expressiveness of the copy - compared to that of the original - is equivalent, because the undisputed genuine declaration is legible and contains no other content, a copy can be seen as well as an original.

If an original document is duplicated in any form, a distinction is made according to § 267 StGB ( forgery of documents ) as follows: notarial copies have the same quality as the original because they replace it. In the case of certified copies, the certification mark represents a document which, in connection with its content, is considered a composite document and evidence unit. Simple copies do not have the character of a document because the issuer of the copy is not recognizable and they do not contain the declaration themselves; this also applies to photocopies. Scanned documents with a signature are viewed like documents in legal transactions.

Others

Before the invention of printing , copies of entire books were common. If the writing system used in the copy is changed compared to the original, then one usually does not speak of a copy , but of a transcription or transcription .

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: transcript  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RGBl. I, 609
  2. ^ Walter Schmitz-Valckenberg, DNotZ 1968, 476 f.
  3. ↑ BGHZ 36, 201, 204
  4. ↑ Friedrich J. Rebold, Praxis des Notariats , 2007, p. 51
  5. ↑ Christian Armbrüster etc, Notarization Act and Service Regulations , 2008, p. 500
  6. ↑ BGH NJW 1980, 1047
  7. ↑ a b BGH NJW 1980, 1047, 1048
  8. ^ BGH WM 1986, 400, 401
  9. ^ Karl E. Hemmer / Achim Wüst, Strafrecht, 2009, p. 130 marginal number 253 - p. 131 marginal number 253
  10. ^ BGH, judgment of November 16, 1979, Az: V ZR 93/77
  11. ↑ BGH, judgment of November 16, 1979, LM No. 1 to § 435 ZPO = JR 1980, 243, 245
  12. ↑ LAG Hamm, judgment of February 2, 1995, Az: 4 Sa 1850/94
  13. ↑ OLG Hamm, judgment of May 12, 2016, Az: 1 RVs 18/16