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By Compiled by Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 7, 2000
In the United States there are 4.5-million notaries. Florida has more than any other state, 366,000, or about one notary for every 42 people.
* How long have notaries been around?
Since ancient Rome. Most people could not write back then so notaries wrote important documents and ensured the authenticity of the people signing them. Often notaries used metal or ceramic dies to affix signatures that were then sealed with wax. That's the origin of the notary "seal" that endures today in the form of a rubber stamp.
In the Middle Ages, the Holy Roman Empire used notaries to administer rules and property. Charlemagne ordered that each bishop, count and abbot have a notary. Notaries still rank with lawyers in many European and Latin American countries as a neutral third party who reviews transactions and contracts and ensures all sides understand what they are signing. In countries such as the United States that followed English common law, a notary's role has been reduced mostly to protecting the public against forgery.
* Who was the first notary?
A Roman slave named Tiron who was secretary to Cicero. He created a form of shorthand for taking down his boss' pronouncements. He called his scribblings notae which evolved into notarius.
* Well-known notaries
Mark Twain and Miami Herald humorist Dave Barry, who signed up to perform a friend's wedding.
* Lesser known notaries
The fathers of surrealist painter Salvador Dali, inventor Leonardo Da Vinci and Calvin Coolidge, who swore his son in as president. William Shakespeare supposedly modeled the Merchant of Venice after a notary who once employed the playwright.
* When did Florida get notaries?
Many Spanish explorers brought a notary along to keep track of discovered treasures for the crown that paid for their expeditions. Notaries became a permanent part of the local landscape when frontier Florida became a territory in 1822. The state's first Constitution in 1845 required the governor to appoint at least one notary in every county.
* What do you need to become a notary in Florida?
A letter from someone endorsing your good character, a company willing to sell you a $7,500 surety bond and no felony convictions. It costs less than $100 for a four-year term. Each notary is appointed by the governor (although that's a formality; there's no evidence that Jeb Bush spends late nights fretting over notary applications. In fact, the governor's signature is preprinted on the commission.) A notary is considered a public official and can be removed from office involuntarily only by the Florida Senate. There is no test or training required.
* What can a notary do in Florida?
Marry couples. Administer oaths. Charge up to $10 to notarize a document, which is an assurance the person signing a document is who he says he is. Affirm that someone appeared to sign a document of his own free will.
* What's the maximum penalty for a notary who notarizes a signature he does not witness?
Five years in jail and a $5,000 fine. Lack of intent to defraud anybody is not a defense.
* What's a civil law notary?
Florida is the first state to permit this specialized type of notary, a lawyer who can draw up contracts for transactions. It was in response to the state's interest in building foreign trade. Foreign visitors to the state and immigrants from many countries expect notaries to be highly trained. But in the United States virtually all notaries are forbidden to offer legal advice. (An exception is Louisiana, where the law is anchored in the French Napoleonic Code and notaries have powers more akin to lawyers. They even get special "NP" auto tags.) Florida's new civil law notary can offer legal advice. But he must have passed an exam and been a practicing lawyer with five years' experience. The state's first crop of 63 civil law notaries just passed the exam.
SOURCES: National Notary Association, Florida Secretary of State and Jacqueline O'Neal, associate professor of business law at Northeast Louisiana University.