Act in public form
The first category is known as an "act in public form" (Fr ''acte en minute'', Du ''minuutakte'', It ''atto conservato'', Ger ''urschriftliche Urkunde'', Sp ''acta protocolar''), and is the preserve of notaries-at-law. Public form acts may take the form of a record of some activity that is intended or required to have evidentiary status, legal or administrative force or effect, or commercial effect. Acts in this form remain the cornerstone of civil-law notarial practice according to which they are composed as single narrative instruments written in the first-person perspective of the notary. Public-form acts include all contracts and governing instruments (e.g. conveyance, will, trust, power of attorney, gift). The components of an act in public form are: * ''Protocol'' (preamble) which sets out introductory matters, noting: **Notary's name and status **Date and venue of act **The appearance of one or more parties (referred to as "appearers") and witnesses before the notary **Any capacity the appearer appears or is acting in **How the notary verified the facts or allegations in the corpus *''Corpus'' (operative part) which: **Recites appearer's intent **Narrates facts and accomplished procedures **Sets out the material terms and operative words (''voces signatæ'') of the power-of-attorney, contract, arrangement, obligation, conveyance, or other legal act embodied in the instrument **Refers to any appended material *''Act in private form
The second category is known as an "act in private form" (Fr ''acte en brevet'', Du ', ''akte in originali'', It ''atto rilasciato in originale'', Ger ''Urkunde im Original'', Sp ''acta extraprotocolar''), best represented by the notarial certificate (or "docquet" in Scotland). This is generally a writing that certifies the due execution in the notary's presence of a deed, contract or other writing or verifies some fact or thing of which the notary has certain knowledge. Notarial certificates are endorsed on or appended to a pre-existing document and attest to its due execution, genuine nature, and validity, or legal status and effects. As a safety precaution, the certificate may also contain information such as the number of pages, a description of the document, its title, and any other distinguishing features to prevent pages from being added or removed. If affixed, short-form certificates may also be embossed with a seal, half on the certificate and half on the rest of the page. Notarial certificates come in full forms or short forms. A full form includes preamble information like the date, venue, appearer's appearance, proof of identification, and so forth, as well as the principal attestation. A short form usually only includes the venue, date, and "attestation clause". Both are then ended with a "testimonium clause". Typical parts are: *The caption which includes the venue, a large right-facing bracket or parentheses followed by "to wit" or the abbreviation ''ss.'' for Latin ''scilicet'' which means the same thing, and to the right is the title, usually in reference to a case or matter; *The preamble (see ''supra''); *The attestation proper, either in clause form or broken out into averments; *The testimonium clause followed by a notary's signature, either styled with a large bracket and the appearer and witness signature block or with a signature block preceding and notary signature following. **Typical examples: ***IN FAITH AND TESTIMONY WHEREOF I, the said Notary, have hereunto set and subscribed my hand and affixed my Notarial seal on this (day) day of (month) two thousand and (year). (India) ***WHEREOF AN ACT being required, I, the said Notary, have granted these presents under my Notarial firm and Seal of Office to serve and avail as occasion shall or may require. (India, Ireland) ***IN WITNESS of which I have subscribed my name and affixed my seal of office at (city) aforesaid this (day) of (month) Two thousand and (year). (Australia) ***IN FAITH AND TESTIMONY whereof I the said notary have subscribed my name and set and affixed my seal of office at (city) aforesaid this (day) day of (month) two thousand and (year). (England) ***IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my Notarial form and official seal of Office. (Canada) ***IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office. (U.S.)See also
* Notary public *References
Bibliography
*{{cite book , title=Principles of Notarial Practice , publisher=Psophidian , location=Melbourne, Australia , first=Peter , last=Zablud , date=March 2005 , isbn=978-0-9581271-1-0 Legal documents Notary