Historical Uniformity and Diversity of Notaries in the Shadow of Their Modern Transformation

Abstract

The traditional understanding of notaries in Europe almost exclusively relies on the dictionary meaning of the term notarius. Etymology and the strict meaning of that Latin word reveal the essence of the roles and functions of notaries that have traditionally existed in European legal culture from late antiquity onwards. Despite the fact that the basic idea of the notarial profession relied on the same grounds, their positions and authority or credibility of the documents they produced varied considerably throughout Europe and during different historical periods. This contribution contains an overview of the traditional and continuous roles and functions of notaries in Europe. It puts emphasis on the question whether these roles and functions referred exclusively to documentary work or whether notaries of medieval and later Europe could reliably be ascribed some other (regulatory) powers.