Santa Cruz County
Recorder
Sheri Thomas, County Recorder
Historical Background
On September 9, 1850 California was admitted as a state and one
of the first acts of the legislature was to adopt a recording system. Under the Spanish
and Mexican governments there were no statewide registry or recording laws, so it was
necessary that some device be created by which evidence of title to, or an interest in
land could be collected in a convenient and safe public place. The system allows persons
intending to purchase or otherwise deal with land to be informed as to the ownership and
condition of the title, and be protected from secret conveyances and liens.
The basis of the California recording system is modeled after
the recording system established by the American Colonies and in use in many of the
eastern states at the time California became a state. This system provided for the
indexing of the names of parties to the document in volumes and the copying of the actual
document into separate volumes. This copying was done first by hand and in later years by
typing, photostat and then by filming. Separate sets of indexes and volumes were provided
for each type of document. Government Codes 27232 through 27254 presently list 21
different types of indexes (indices) that the Recorder shall provide. This system of
indexing became cumbersome as the volume of recorded documents grew and in 1921 the
legislature provided that a combined General Index could be used by the Recorder to index
all types of documents.
Today, recorded documents are imaged and microfilmed as a
permanent record and the original document is returned to the customer after filming.
Filed documents are retained for a specified length of time, or kept permanently, as in
the case of maps. All records are indexed by the names of the principal parties to the
document and by the year recorded. The records are open for public inspection and copies
may be purchased at this office.