n. (also journal of notarial acts)a register, usually kept in a bound volume, that lists the date, time, and type of each official acta document drafted or paraphrased by a civil law notary, filed into public record, and housed in a notarial archivesICA 2003, 1“Notaries meet a need which is as old as the organisation of society itself. By conferring the authority of society on individual actions relating to persons or property, they ensure to each of these actions its proper place in the world.” [citing Jean Favier] Those authoritative legal deeds which touch the lives of individuals and of organisations, and are indispensable to both, were already being preserved as far back as the 12th century. Notarial records are an extraordinarily rich source of information for all aspects of history, and nowadays are amongst the materials most consulted by researchers.
Notes
The notarial record1 typically includes the instrument presented to the notary, the signature of each person whose signature is notarized, the information used to verify the parties' identities, and any fee charged.A notarial record2 has a different meaning in Louisiana, which has a civil law, rather than common law, tradition.
