What is a Florida Civil-Law Notary?

A Florida civil-law notary, also known as a Florida International Notary, is an officer appointed by the Department of State, rather than the governor, who holds the powers traditionally delegated to notaries in civil-law countries. Although under Florida law, civil-law notaries have all of the same powers and duties as notaries public, they also have much broader and less-regulated authority.

Civil-law notaries must be members of the Florida Bar (for at least 5 years) who practice international law. What makes civil-law notaries so different from regular notaries public is that they are responsible for the entire content of the document. Typically, the documents that civil-law notaries involve themselves in are contracts and other business transaction documents. Whereas a regular notary would simply add an acknowledgment to the end of the document, whereby the signers of the document acknowledge having signed the document willingly, a civil-law notary certifies the actual contents of the document. A civil-law notary can therefore make determinations as to alleged status or capacity. These determinations are found at the end of the document in what are referred to as "notarial acts".

Documents authenticated by a civil-law notary are kept by the notary in what is called a "protocol", which is similar to a notarial journal except that all original documents are kept. The civil-law notary therefore issues certified copies of the document which has the same fource and effect as the original. Original documents are kept by the civil-law notary as long as he holds such position, and upon that notary's death or revocation of his commission, another civil-law notary must inherit the protocol with all of the original documents.

The concept of a civil-law notary is somewhat foreign in the State of Florida, which is a common-law state. The only state in the union which practices civil-law is Louisiana, whose notaries are similary required to be trained in the drafting of documents and mediation between parties to a transaction. Civil-law notaries have general authority to certify an entire transaction as their personal knowledge.