A notarial act (or notarial instrument or notarial writing) is any written narration of facts (recitals) drawn up by a notary, notary public or civil-law notary authenticated by the notary's signature and official seal and detailing a procedure which has been transacted by or before the notary in their official capacity. A notarial act is the only lawful means of proving those facts of which it is the recognized record, whereas on other matters it is usually inadmissible, because, being beyond the powers entrusted to the notary by law, it is non-official. In most common-law countries, multiple-page acts are bound together using a sewn or knotted ribbon (referred to as silk), the ends of which are secured by a wafer impressed with the notary's seal. This is called annexing or annexure.
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:
Traditionally, in civil-law countries, the preliminary drafts, called "minutes" (formerly protocols; Fr minute, Du minuut, It minuta, Ger Urschrift, Sp escritura matriz), are jotted in legal shorthand and record only the particulars. Their date, appearer, venue, and subject are logged in a notarial register, and the minutes are retained and kept in the notary's protocol (archive) while an engrossment (Fr/Du grosse, It copia esecutiva, Ger Ausfertigung, Sp primer testimonio), a fully extended form in longhand under seal and signature, is handed to the appearer. The minutes are used thereafter as a master copy from which exemplifications (Fr expédition, It copia autentica, Du (Netherlands) authentiek afschrift, (Belgium) uitgifte, Ger beglaubigte Abschrift, Sp testimonio ulterio, copia simple), i.e. engrossed fair copies, may be made. In common-law countries, notaries prepare multiple duplicate originals fully executed and sealed, as a copy would not be admissible in court. One is archived as a file copy in the notary's protocol.
The second category is known as an "act in private form" (Fr acte en brevet, Du brevetakte, 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 public act is governed by paragraph 7 of Title XI of the Organic Code of the Courts, in particular articles 403-414.[2][3] Article 403 defines public writing in the following terms:
"Article 403. - A public deed is a public or genuine document delivered by a competent notary public with the solemn ceremonies prescribed by this law and entered in his minutes or public register..”
The Civil Code classifies it as a type of public document in its section 1699, therefore relying entirely on the fact of its service and its date, and on the truth of the statements contained therein made by interested parties, but in this last paragraph only with respect to applicants such as it establishes in section 1700.[4][5]
Notariate appeared in France as early as the xi, the oldest acts are in the local language or Latin and require good paleography skills to decipher them.[6] As a result of the Revolution, notarial offices were no longer inheritable.[7][8] Royal, apostolic and lord notaries are abolished in favor of public notaries. The Act of 25 January XI organizes the French notary office.[9]
According to the decree of March 1693. acts received by notaries and acts of bailiffs are subject to formal verification.[10][11] By decree of October 1705. privately owned acts are also subject to scrutiny, as they are justiciable. In 1703 a new edict established insinuation according to the tariff (gift, bequest, etc.) And insinuation under the one hundredth of a denier, which is a 1% fee charged on the transfer of real estate.
There are 145 types of notarial acts.[12] The main ones that can be cited, especially those of interest to genealogists, are prenuptial agreements, wills, post-death inventories, farm leases, sales contracts, and deeds of gift.