North Carolina § 8-34 - Copies of official writings.

§ 8-34. Copies of official writings.

Copies of all official bonds, writings, papers, or documents, recorded or filed as records in any court, or public office, or lodged in the office of the Governor, Treasurer, Auditor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Adjutant General, or the State Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, shall be as competent evidence as the originals, when certified by the keeper of such records or writings under the seal of the keeper's office when there is such seal, or under the keeper's hand when there is no such seal, unless the court shall order the production of the original. Copies of the records of the board of county commissioners shall be evidence when certified by the clerk of the board under the clerk's hand and seal of the county. The provisions of this section shall apply to records stored on any form of permanent, computer-readable media, such as a CD-ROM, if the medium is not subject to erasure or alteration. Nonerasable, computer-readable storage media may be used for preservation duplicates, as defined in G.S. 132-8.2, or for the preservation of permanently valuable records as provided in G.S. 121-5(d). History (1792, c. 368, s. 11, P.R.; R.C., c. 44, s. 8; 1868-9, c. 20, s. 21; 1871-2, c. 91; Code, ss. 715, 1342; Rev., s. 1616; C.S., s. 1779; 1961, c. 739; 1973, c. 476, s. 48; 1999-131, s. 3; 1999-456, s. 47(c); 2011-326, s. 13(a); 2015-241, s. 14.30(s).) Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2011-326, s. 13(a), effective June 27, 2011, in the last sentence of subsection (b), substituted "may be used" for "shall not be used" and deleted "except to the extent expressly approved by the Department of Cultural Resources pursuant to standards and conditions established by the Department" from the end. Session Laws 2015-241, s. 14.30(s), effective July 1, 2015, substituted "Department of Natural and Cultural Resources" for "Department of Cultural Resources" in subsection (a).