Exactly. The Registry is not supposed to be a validating office. That's what the courts are for. Documents are supposed to be self-proving and if there was a problem in their construction, that will come to fore when there is a legal action.
In NJ a document must be in English or accompanied by a translation; contain an acknowledgment done before a notary, be accompanied by the correct recording fee and have printed names beneath signatures (and if it is a deed, have the preparers name on the first page and have a true consideration someplace on the deed, acknowledgement or affidavit of consideration).
You are not supposed to reject a document if it meets the basic requirements of the Prerequisites of Recording spelled out in the law. Clerks in a recording office, no matter how much they are trained are not supposed to be legal scholars. Even if you hire an attorney on staff, he should only be concerning himself on what it takes to record a document. If he wants to be a Judge, he or she is working in the wrong public office.
I used to be a Deputy County Register and the recording laws were updated in 1992 deliberately to prevent situations like this. However, even in my state, recording offices have been slowly adding additional requirements not in the law such as requiring typed cover letters and return envelopes with documents. This is not in the law. Requiring Affidavits Of Consideration on dollar deeds, even if taxes are paid....again, not in the law. One county requires condo deeds to have the percentage of common areas spelled out in the legal description using digits. Even if you refer to the master deed where that is contained and even if it had been recorded several times that way in the chain of title, they will reject it. Again, that's not in the recording statutes. The statutes don't even require a legal description for recording, just a reference of the subject property which could be anything such as an address, Block and Lot number, map, GPS coordinates or whatever. If another section of law has other requirements, that is supposed to be the problem of the preparer of the document if they want it to have the intended effect. Otherwise the county recorder should be depositing their recording checks and putting the documents on record. They are a recording office, not a real estate court where you have to prove all the facts before a document can be put on record.
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