A Notary Public is an official of integrity appointed by state government —typically by the secretary of state — to serve the public as
an impartial witness in performing a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts related to the signing of important documents.
These official acts are called notarizations, or notarial acts. Notaries
are publicly commissioned as “ministerial” officials, meaning that they
are expected to follow written rules without the exercise of
significant personal discretion, as would otherwise be the case with a
“judicial” official.
A Notary's duty is to screen the
signers of important documents — such as property deeds, wills, and
powers of attorney — for their true identity, their willingness to sign
without duress or intimidation, and their awareness of the contents of
the document or transaction. Some notarizations also require the Notary
to put the signer under an oath, declaring under penalty of perjury that
the information contained in a document is true and correct.
Impartiality
is the foundation of the Notary's public trust. They are duty-bound not to act in situations where they have a personal interest. The public trusts that the Notary’s screening tasks have not been corrupted by self-interest. And impartiality dictates that a Notary never refuses to serve a person due to race, nationality, religion, politics, sexual orientation or status as a non-customer.
As official
representatives of the state, Notaries Public certify the proper
execution of many of the life-changing documents of private citizens —
whether those diverse transactions convey real estate, grant powers of
attorney, establish a prenuptial agreement or perform the multitude of
other activities that enable our civil society to function.