Does anyone know what code started requiring handrails returning into wall or newel posts?
Earliest IRC I have is 2000. (there is only one before that 1997) Anyway it was required in 2000 (R315.1); 2003 & 2006 (R311.5.6.2); 2009 (R311.7.8.2); 2012.2015, 2018 (R311.7.8.4)
Prior to the first IRC in1997 There were 4 separate code authorities depending on your geographic location in the US. These combined in the 90s to create the ICC.
This is not something I generally call out. It could be written up as a safety recommendation, but most of my homes are older than twenty years.
Just for a hoot, here is an excerpt from the 1967 UBC (universal building code)
REMEMBER: Codes are heavily modified, edited and annotated by the jurisdiction that adopts them.
This from the 1975 BOCA: Again returned handrails, but look all the way down to the last included line.
No doubt, just be happy there is a handrail.