Origins
The notariate developed from Roman practices of professional documentation. Roman tabelliones and tabularii prepared and preserved legal documents; their records provided evidence of transactions. Medieval development elaborated these functions into the notarial profession: trained specialists who authenticated documents, witnessed transactions, and maintained archives. The notary’s involvement gave documents particular legal force—notarial instruments were presumed authentic, shifting burdens of proof and providing security for transactions.
Canon law and commerce drove notarial development. Church administration required documented records of appointments, benefices, and proceedings. Commercial expansion demanded reliable documentation of contracts, loans, and property transfers. Italian cities became centers of notarial practice; notarial training and regulation developed; notarial records became foundations for legal and commercial systems. The notary became essential infrastructure for documented transactions.
Civil law systems made the notariate a distinctive institution, separate from and parallel to lawyers who litigate. The Latin notariate—prevailing in Continental Europe, Latin America, and much of the world—requires legal training, competitive examinations, and official appointment. Notaries in these systems exercise public functions: their documents have particular evidentiary weight; some transactions require notarial form. Common law systems developed different notarial roles—typically less trained, less regulated, and less significant—reflecting different approaches to documentation and evidence.
Structure & Function
Notaries authenticate documents and transactions through their official involvement. The notarial act—typically involving the notary witnessing signatures, verifying identity, and affixing official seal—certifies that the documented transaction occurred as stated. This certification provides evidentiary security: notarial documents are presumed authentic, difficult to challenge, and often required for particular transactions (real estate transfers, corporate formations, powers of attorney).
Latin notaries perform broader functions than their common law counterparts. They advise parties on legal implications of transactions (though not in adversarial matters). They draft documents ensuring legal validity. They maintain archives preserving original documents. They provide copies certified as authentic. These functions make notaries quasi-judicial officials providing legal services through documentation rather than litigation.
Notarial regulation varies by system. Latin notaries typically number-limited (numerus clausus), geographically assigned, and subject to strict requirements. Common law notaries in many jurisdictions face minimal requirements—in the United States, most states permit notary commissions with basic applications and brief training. International documents increasingly require apostille certification, standardizing cross-border notarial recognition. The notariate thus operates within elaborately structured systems (civil law) and loosely regulated ones (common law) with ongoing harmonization efforts.
Historical Significance
The notariate provided infrastructure for documented legal relations. Before notarial development, proving what agreements parties had made, what transfers had occurred, what events had happened required oral testimony with its risks of loss, distortion, and dispute. Notarial documentation created reliable records that outlasted participants’ lives and memories. Property systems, commercial law, and administrative processes depended on this documentation infrastructure.
Notarial archives preserve historical evidence. Notaries maintained records of transactions across centuries—property transfers, marriage contracts, business dealings, wills. These archives became sources for historians reconstructing economic and social history. Medieval Italian archives, Spanish colonial records, and countless other notarial collections document past societies in detail impossible without systematic documentation.
Contemporary notarial practice faces technological transformation. Digital signatures and electronic documents challenge traditional notarial functions. Remote notarization—notarizing documents via video conference—has expanded, particularly after COVID-19 restrictions. The fundamental function—providing trustworthy documentation—persists, but its implementation increasingly involves electronic rather than physical instruments. How traditional notarial values (careful verification, reliable archives) translate to digital environments remains under development.
Key Developments
- c. 100: Roman tabelliones provide professional documentation
- c. 400: Notarial practice continues in Byzantine tradition
- 800: Carolingian administration uses notaries
- 1100s: Bologna develops notarial training with law school
- 1200s: Notarial profession institutionalizes in Italian cities
- 1512: Spanish notariate established in Americas
- 1539: French Edict of Villers-Cotterêts regulates notaries
- 1803: French Notarial Act; modern regulation
- 1868: Prussian Notarial Ordinance
- 1948: International Union of Notaries founded
- 1961: Hague Apostille Convention; international authentication
- 1981: Italian notarial reform
- 2000: EU Regulation on cross-border documents
- 2014: eIDAS Regulation; electronic identification and authentication
- 2020: Remote notarization expands during COVID-19