The county clerk shall:

(1) Have the custody of, and safely keep and preserve, all files and records of deeds and mortgages of real property and a record of all maps, plats, contracts, powers of attorney and other interests affecting the title to real property required or permitted by law to be recorded.

(2) Record, or cause to be recorded, in a legible and permanent manner, and keep in the office of the county clerk, all:

(a) Deeds and mortgages of real property, powers of attorney and contracts affecting the title to real property, authorized by law to be recorded, assignments thereof and of any interest therein when properly acknowledged or proved and other interests affecting the title to real property required or permitted by law to be recorded;

(b) Certificates of sale of real property under execution or order of court, or assignments of previously recorded certificates or of any interest in real property, when properly acknowledged or proved;

(c) Certified copies of death records of any person appearing in the county records as owning or having a claim or interest in land in the county. A certified copy of a death record recorded in the deed records of a county under this subsection is a public record and is not subject to the disclosure limitations under ORS § 432.350;

(d) Instruments presented for recording by the United States or the State of Oregon, or a political subdivision of either, that affect title to or an interest in real property or that lawfully concern real property; and

(e) Instruments recognized under state law or rule or federal law or regulation as affecting title to or an interest in real property if the instrument is properly acknowledged or proved.

(3) Keep and maintain:

(a) Deed and mortgage records;

(b) Statutory lien records;

(c) A record called the County Clerk Lien Record in which the following shall be recorded:

(A) The warrants and orders of officers and agencies that are required or permitted by law to be recorded; and

(B) All instruments presented for recordation when required or permitted by law to be recorded that affect the title to or an interest in real property, other than instruments recorded in the deed and mortgage records or the statutory lien records;

(d) Releases, satisfactions, assignments, amendments and modifications of recorded instruments; and

(e) Other instruments required or permitted by law to be recorded not affecting interests in real property.

(4) Perform all the duties in regard to the recording and indexing of deeds and mortgages of real property, contracts, abstracts of judgments, notices of pendency, powers of attorney and other interests when required or permitted by law to be recorded that affect the title of real property, and in regard to the entry of satisfaction and discharge of the same, together with other documents required or permitted by law to be recorded.

(5) Incur no civil or criminal liability, either personally or in an official capacity, for recording an instrument that does not comply with the provisions of law that require or allow the recording of the instrument. [Amended by 1983 c.696 § 8a; 1983 c.709 § 43; 1983 c.763 § 63; 1985 c.471 § 16; 1987 c.215 § 22; 1987 c.586 § 31; 1989 c.171 § 28; 1989 c.179 § 1; 1989 c.618 § 11; 1989 c.706 1,2; 1989 c.738 § 15; 1989 c.764 § 4; 1989 c.795 § 3; 1989 c.841 § 10; 1989 c.1035 § 4; 1991 c.230 § 12; 1993 c.321 § 2; 1999 c.654 § 14a; 1999 c.710 § 9; 2001 c.713 § 2; 2007 c.30 § 12; 2013 c.366 § 71; 2015 c.168 § 5; 2021 c.592 § 42]