How does a Notary Public differ from other solicitors/commissioners for oaths?

Question

How do you become a Notary Public?

Answer 1

I was a Notary in the state of NJ in the USA a long time ago and all that was needed then was an appointment from your local Assemblyman or Senator. That authorized me to admininster oaths and take affadavits. There was no test of any kind. Some states require that one pass a test.

Answer 2

A Notary is an official whose authentication of documents is internationally accepted. In the UK, very few documents have to be officially certified in this way, but in many counties, the certification of a notary by way of a seal is required before they can have any legal force. As a UK Notary can exercise many of the functions of solicitor, the knowledge needed for qualification is very similar. The office is a very old one: the authority to grant someone a Faculty to practise as a notary is vested in the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he got his authority from the Pope, in pre-Reformation times.

You might need a UK notary if you were selling a house on the Continent, but couldn't travel there to sign the papers.

I can only think of one case within the UK where a notary is needed, and thast is when a dishonoured bill of exchange has to be "noted and protested". Bills of exchange are used in international trade, too, so the notary requirement has appeared in UK law, even when there is no "foreign element".

Just search for "Notaries", and you will learn a lot more.

Answer 3

In South Africa, a Notary Public is simply a specialised form of attorney, which requires that the attorney who wishes to become a notary take additional exams. The reason for this is that a notary is qualified, over and above the ordinary attorney, to draft certain formal legal documents which are 'notarised', such as ante-nuptial contracts, maritime 'notes of protest', special notarial bonds of security over movable property and so on. The unifying factor amongst these documents is that they are all drafted and notarised so as to provide the general public with 'notice' of a certain state of affairs that would affect the way people deal with one another, such as the matrimonial property regime between two particular spouses.

Answer 4

Notaries & Comm's for Oaths are essentially the same. Solicitors are lawyer who give legal advice; prepare legal documents, conveyancing instruments and even represent clients in court.