Notaries: What do they do then?
Nick Evans | 31/03/2008
A Notary is a qualified lawyer and a member of the oldest branch of the legal profession in the United Kingdom. Notaries are appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and regulated by its Court of Faculties. The profession’s history goes back to early Roman law. Roman officials were generally known as ‘scribae’. They spent their time taking copies, translating official documents and drafting deeds, Wills and conveyances. At a later stage with the invention of shorthand, this led to the description of the scribae as ‘notaries,’ which is the origin of the modern title. The appointment of notaries passed from the Roman authorities to the Pope and following the Reformation in England to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The role of a Notary is a public one. The importance of this is that, whereas a solicitor has a client, a Notary has an overriding duty to the transaction as a whole and can in certain circumstances act for both parties. Another important difference is that a Notary acts as a public official and uses an individual seal and signature, which personally identifies the Notary. My Notarial seal is registered with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and with many foreign embassies and Consulates. The process of notarising a document frequently involves the document having to be legalised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and various foreign embassies.
Nowadays, Notaries deal almost exclusively with foreign documents. The documents themselves are varied and the form and style of the notarisation required differs according to the country they are going to. I frequently deal with Powers of Attorney for the purchase of property abroad, including Florida, France, Spain and now some of the Balkan countries and new E.U. countries such as Bulgaria and Romania. I am frequently asked to certify copies of documents for the Home Office or foreign embassies. Letters of invitation or sponsorship to India or South America are also quite common and all of these documents have to be dealt with individually using high levels of verification. Many of these documents are not in English and therefore require translation.
The work is interesting and varied and although there are some specialist ecclesiastical notaries (who work in the Church of England) and Scrivener notaries (who work largely in the City of London on large commercial and shipping matters) most notaries are general notaries. The vast majority are also practising solicitors. If you want to know more about the history of the profession, the education and training of notaries and how to find a Notary, then the best place to look is the website of the Notaries Society at www.notariessociety.org.uk
The information and options contained in this article are only intended as a general view of the subject concerned. Specific advice concerning individual situations should always be obtained from the usual contact at Griffith Smith Farrington Webb LLP. No part of the publication may be produced without the express written permission of the individual author.
