What is "notary"

Notary \No"ta*ry\, n.; pl. Notaries. [F. notaire, L. notarius notary (in sense 1), fr. nota mark. See 5th Note.]

1. One who records in shorthand what is said or done; as, the notary of an ecclesiastical body.

2. (Eng. & Am. Law) A public officer who attests or certifies deeds and other writings, or copies of them, usually under his official seal, to make them authentic, especially in foreign countries. His duties chiefly relate to instruments used in commercial transactions, such as protests of negotiable paper, ship's papers in cases of loss, damage, etc. He is generally called a notary public.

c.1300, "clerk, secretary," from Old French notarie "scribe, clerk, secretary" (12c.) and directly from Latin notarius "shorthand writer, clerk, secretary," from notare, "to note," from nota "shorthand character, letter, note" (see note (v.)). Meaning "person authorized to attest contracts, etc." is from mid-14c.; especially in notary public (late 15c.), which has the French order of subject-adjective. Related: Notarial.

n. 1 (context legal especially civil law English) A lawyer of noncontentious private civil law who drafts, takes, and records legal instruments for private parties, and provides legal advice, but does not appear in court on clients' behalf. 2 (context common law English) A notary public, a legal practitioner who prepares, attests to, and certifies documents, witnesses affidavits, and administers oaths. 3 (context legal Canada US English) A lay notary notary public, who serves as an impartial witness to the signing of important documents, but who is ''not'' authorised to practise law.

n. someone legally empowered to witness signatures and certify a document's validity and to take depositions [syn: notary public]

A notary in the canon law of the Catholic Church ( Latin: notarius) is a person appointed by competent authority to draw up official or authentic documents. These documents are issued chiefly from the official administrative bureaux, the chanceries; secondly, from tribunals; lastly, others are drawn up at the request of individuals to authenticate their contracts or other acts. The public officials appointed to draw up these three classes of papers have been usually called notaries.

A notary is a lawyer or person with legal training who is licensed by the government to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems.

Most common law systems have what is called in the United States a notary public, a public official who notarizes legal documents and who can also administer and take oaths and affirmations, among other tasks. In the United States, a signing agent, also known as a loan signing agent, is a notary public who specializes in notarizing mortgage and real estate documents. Although notaries public are public officials, they are not paid by the government; they may obtain income by charging fees, provide free services in connection with other employment (for example, bank employees), or provide free services for the public good. Documents are notarized to deter fraud and to ensure they are properly executed. An impartial witness (the Notary) identifies signers to screen out impostors and to make sure they have entered into agreements knowingly and willingly. Loan documents including deeds, affidavits, contracts, powers of attorney are very common documents needing notarization.

Most Roman law-based systems have the civil law notary, a legal professional working in civil law performing many more functions. The Worshipful Company of Scriveners use an old English term for a notary, and are an association of notaries practicing in central London since 1373.

To "notarize" a document or event is not a term of art, and its definition varies from place to place; but it generally means the performance by a notary of a series of possible steps, which may include the following (not an exhaustive list):

1. Identifying the person appearing before the notary by reference to significant proofs of evidence including passport, driving license, birth certificate, diplomatic documents etc. The notary may have to exercise considerable ingenuity in some cases, such as in the case of Holocaust victims who lack formal documentation or illegal immigrants
2. Where land titles are involved or significant rights may accrue by reference to the identity, signatures may also be verified, recorded and compared
3. Recording the proof of identity in the notarial register or protocol
4. Satisfying the notary that the person appearing is of full age and capacity to do whatever is intended
5. Taking an affidavit or declaration and recording that fact
6. Taking detailed instructions for a protest of a bill of exchange or a ship's protest and preparing it
7. Recording the signature of the person in the register or protocol
8. Taking an acknowledgment (in the United States) of execution of a document and preparing a certificate of acknowledgement
9. Preparing a notarial certificate (in most other jurisdictions) as to the execution or other step
10. Sealing or stamping and signing the document
11. Recording all steps in the register or protocol
12. Delivering the completed original to the person appearing
13. In some cases, retaining a copy of the document in the register or protocol
14. Charging the person appearing a fee for the service

Often, in the case of lawyer notaries, the certificate to be provided will not require the person appearing to sign. Examples are: certificates authenticating copies - which are mostly not within the permissible functions of U.S. notaries, and certificates as to law, such as certificates as to the capacity of a company to perform certain acts, or explaining probate law in the place.

However, in Roman Law states or provinces, notaries or "title attorneys" provide many of the same services as lawyers (negotiation and drafting of contracts, legal advice, settlement of estates, creation of a company and its status, writing of wills and power of attorney, interpretation of the law, mediation, etc...) except any involvement in disputes to be presented before a court. Notaries are specialized in all matters relating to real estate, for example, completing title exams in order to confirm the ownership of the property, the existence of any charges such as "land servitudes" or mortgages.