Notary public

From ArticleWorld

A Notary Public is a licensed public officer appointed by the state with the authority to take the acknowledgment of persons and execute documents such as deeds, contracts or mortgages. The public official then certifies that he or she has witnessed the signing of the document by also signing the document and affixing his or her official seal. He/she is appointed by the state for a specified period of time, which can be renewed.

Down the ages

A notary public is probably the oldest known title of the legal profession that still continues and is established all over the world. The earliest known office of the notary public was in Rome. They were called ‘scribae’ and became with passage of time quite important officials. They continued to gain importance in civil law countries and were only introduced to common law during the 13th-14th centuries. In England they were appointed by the Papal Legate which meant that, to begin with, notary public officials were members of the clergy.

Common law and civil law

Apart from he United States of America, where the work of the notary public official is carried out by paralegals, in most common law states only a qualified and additionally trained lawyer can qualify to become a notary public. A document signed and stamped with the official seal of the notary public becomes considerably more important than an ordinary one.

In England there are three classes of notaries each having a certain area within which they operate. The top class requires knowledge of civil law and one or two foreign languages, while the other two require to be qualified by the Master of the faculties.

Australian notary publics are appointed by the Supreme Court of the states except Queensland where they are still appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury through the Master of Faculties. In New Zealand the Master of Faculties is still responsible for appointing notaries. Since so much importance is allotted to such officials in these two countries only lawyers of several years standing become notary publics and very few lawyers prefer to be both – a lawyer as well as a notary public.

In civil law states the role and importance of notary publics is much more than common law countries. Thus, they need to be attorney at law or like in Greece either an attorney or solicitor.