Talk:Notary

Removals and reasons
Please add these back when articles are present or anticipated:

Non-article entries
Surname - A variation of Notari, Notary is a surname of less than 100 people* (citation needed) world wide. In Australia there is only one Notary family consisting of only 13 people across three generations.


 * Helo. I do not agree merged this article with Notary public. Because notary is a person, but while notary publich was a work. This my opinions. Thanks.--Việt Nam (talk) 05:27, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

The article needs expert attention
The article contradicts itself. The opening phrase does not apply to most US notaries public. "A notary is a lawyer or person with legal training who is licensed by the state to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents." There are no requirements for legal training for notaries public in most, if not all US jurisdictions. Yet the US notary public is mentioned right under that definition that does not apply. Would someone with sufficient experience in law topics please correct this article. It seems to mix too many different legal systems to remain consistently correct. THANKS. --99.11.162.138 (talk) 05:34, 3 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Agreed, the article is focused almost entirely on US notaries public, which is specifically dealt with in the article "Notary public (United States)". Why does this page exist? Torvalu4 (talk) 13:51, 26 October 2017 (UTC)

Corrupt notaries
According to the Panorama documentary "De notaris verdeelt", corruption is widespread within the entire notary branch, and notaries do their best to cover each other, even if it is clear that they conned people. See also this site

Some people such as Renaat_Landuyt have argued that the profession of notary, which is a remnant of the Napoleonic era can be made redundant/abolished and replaced by other entities. This would eliminate the problem that state matters are handled by a for-profit entity. 14:01, 11 August 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.237.180.232 (talk)


 * This is a widespread conspiracy theory in Western Europe. There's nothing redundant about the notarial profession, but it could only be replaced by attorneys, as is the case in the US (which has no notarial profession to speak of). But considering the poor reputation of US attorneys... In any case, you're looking for Civil law notary. Torvalu4 (talk) 14:06, 26 October 2017 (UTC)

Why does this article exist?
There are 3 types of notaries: (1) common-law notaries, referred to as public notaries (in the UK and the current and former British Commonwealth); (2) US notaries public (who aren't lawyers and can't do much); and (3) civil-law notaries. The 1st is dealt with under "Notary public" (which should be renamed "Public notary"); the 2nd under "Notary public (United States)"; and the 3rd under "Civil law notary". So, I ask, why does this page exist? Why not eliminate it or merge it? Torvalu4 (talk) 13:37, 26 October 2017 (UTC)

Confusing edit
I reverted this edit which claimed "A notary is a lawyer (except in the United States)". In this context, it is important to make it clear that although in most US jurisdictions one doesn't need to be a lawyer, a lawyer is allowed to be a notary. This is important because some official positions are incompatible with each other. For example, an active-duty commissioned officer of the United States military is not allowed to be a notary because one is not allowed to hold federal office and state office simultaneously. Jc3s5h (talk) 14:37, 26 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I don't think there's any ambiguity about whether or not a notary is allowed to be a lawyer; the two things are totally separate things in the US. Being a lawyer doesn't disqualify you, nor does it qualify you. The point is that, in the US, being a lawyer has absolutely NOTHING to do with being a notary. The US is just about the only jurisdiction where that's true. The sentence "A notary is a lawyer..." is patently false in the US.
 * But all of this just begs the question: why does this article exist? Every type of notary is dealt with somewhere else on a dedicated article. This article is totally pointless. Torvalu4 (talk) 16:24, 26 October 2017 (UTC)


 * The two things are NOT totally separate in the US. Puerto Rico requires notaries to be lawyers. A good guideline is that statements of the form "In every jurisdiction of the United States..." or "Nowhere in the United States" are very likely to be false. Jc3s5h (talk) 21:54, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
 * That's true, but only because Puerto Rico is a civil-law jurisdiction. It's clear that the paragraph is talking about COMMON LAW jurisdictions. Anyway, it's easily remedied with a little edit... rather than a revert. I made an edit to reflect this. Also, no reply to the second part of my response: why does this page exist? Torvalu4 (talk) 08:39, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Your edits are still wrong because most of Canada does not require notaries to be lawyers. Jc3s5h (talk) 17:26, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Then just edit the text to reflect that. And you can provide the source to show that Canadian notaries don't need to be lawyers. If you revert me again instead of making edits, I'll involve an administrator. I'm done being pushed around. Also, still waiting for an explanation as to why this article should continue to exist. Torvalu4 (talk) 18:47, 28 October 2017 (UTC)

Not always "commissioned by the government"
The main article starts with, "A notary is a person commissioned by the government ..." which I doubt should be part of the definition of all notaries. My reason for challenging this claim is that in Europe notaries public used to be commissioned by the Pope. In England that was a function of the Papal Legate - the Archbishop of Canterbury - and since King Henry VIII took over the Church of England notaries have continued to receive their commissions from the Archbishop, although they are no longer in minor orders. NRPanikker (talk) 13:27, 17 July 2019 (UTC)

backing
I came to this article wondering what backs up the notary. If I have a notarized document, how do I know that it was notarized by a valid notary? Are there fake notaries around, so I should question a document? But actually, I am interested in this at the highest level, not the individual document level. Gah4 (talk) 01:07, 8 November 2019 (UTC)


 * It depends on the country. In the United States, you can identify which jurisdiction commissioned the notary (often the secretary of state of one of the 50 states, or a county-level official). You can then send the document to the appropriate official along with a small fee. The official will look up the record for the particular notary, verify that a notary with that name had a valid commission on the date the document was notarized, and then compare the signature on the document looks like the signature on the document. If everything is in order, the official will issue a certificate verifying the notarization. Jc3s5h (talk) 16:24, 8 November 2019 (UTC)


 * That sounds like more work than anyone I know will do. One common use for notarized documents now is when one parent wants to take a child out of the US, they get a notarized note from the other parent allowing it. I am pretty sure that customs officers won't do what you say in the time one is at the border. Or from a bank stating how much I have in my account. The actual reason for the question came from a discussion on verification of photographs, where one might have a notarized statement for authentication. Gah4 (talk) 04:50, 9 November 2019 (UTC)