What Is A Notary Public?

Answer:
A notary public (or notary) is a public officer

that is allowed by law to serve the public in matters such as estates, deeds, powers-of attorney, and business. Notary public refers only to a common law notary, not a civil law notary.

The main functions of a notary public are to administer oaths and affirmations, take affidavits and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate certain types of documents, take acknowledgments of deeds and other conveyances, protest notes and bills of exchange, provide notice of foreign drafts, prepare marine protests in cases of damage, provide notary copies, and other acts that may fall under their jurisdiction. Any of these acts are called a notarization.

A government authority will appoint a person to be a notary public, such as a court or governor, or they may be appointing by a regulating agency which is usually called a Society or Faculty of Notaries Public. A notary-at-law is usually a lifetime appointment, but lay notaries are appointed for a shorter term with renewal possible at the end of their term. The number of appointments per district are highly regulated. The majority of notary publics in the United States are lay notaries, and there are far more in this country than in any other part of the world.

Most countries make it mandatory that any personal or commercial documents that originate from or are signed in another country must be notarized before they can be officially used or recorded before they are legal. A notarial certificate is attached to these documents. This testifies to the validity of the document, usually performed by the person who appears before the notary, also known as an appearer or constituent. A notary-at-law can also draft legal documents known as notarial acts, which have the same legal force as anything written by a lawyer.

In some countries, notaries have to receive special training on how to perform their duties. Many times they must also work as an apprentice before they can become licensed to practice. In most countries, even lawyers must go through a specialized course of study and be mentored for two years before they can work as a notary. In the United States, a notary public cannot perform any duties that could be construed as the practice of law unless they are also qualified attorneys. In some countries there are even college degrees offered in notarial law.