Constitutional and legal status of the notary: a comparative legal study

Oksana Korotiuk

Korotiuk O. (2022), Constitutional and legal status of the notary: a comparative legal study, Scientific Bulletin of Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affairs, №4, 66-72

DOI: 10.31733/2078-3566-2022-4-66-72

 

ABSTRACT. The article discloses the main approaches of foreign countries, which fix the peculiarities of the legal status of notary bodies and/or their officials in the constitutions. It was concluded that two groups of constitutional and legal norms enshrined in the constitutions of European countries can be distinguished, depending on the content component: a) constitutional and legal norms that determine the powers of authorities and/or local self-government to regulate notarial activities and publishing relevant regulatory legal acts at the local or national level; b) constitutional and legal norms that directly determine the legal status of notary bodies and their officials, as well as the powers of notaries.

The constitutional and legal norms of the «A» group, as a rule, emphasize the national importance of the notary institution. In particular, to date, there is no practice in the Constitutions of Europe to provide local authorities or local self-government bodies with the full set of powers to regulate notarial activity in general. In countries with a federal system or with a significant level of decentralization, the practice of centralized regulation of all fundamental issues of the functioning of the notary and determination of the powers of notaries by the central government is used. At the same time, the constitutional and legal norms of group «B» establish the specific status of notary bodies, emphasize the special role of the notary in the system of state bodies, or distinguish notary bodies from among other bodies and institutions as independent and independent.

In the article, the author considered the main provisions of the constitutions of European countries, which determine the peculiarities of the legal status of a notary public. It has been established that the issue of the legal status of a notary is regulated in the most detailed manner in the state in which the notary is included in the judiciary (the Greek Republic). However, in other countries there is also a practice of providing for constitutional and legal provisions that determine the special and independent status of notary bodies (for example, in Slovenia). In countries with a federal system or with a high level of decentralization, there are cases where the legislator emphasizes the special importance of the notary institution and its national significance in constitutional norms (for example, Spain, Germany). Of course, the lack of reference in the constitutional norms to notary bodies does not indicate a reduction of its importance in the state. However, it seems that the constitutional and legal norms that determine the specific status of notary bodies, especially in the case of granting notaries a wide range of powers, are quite appropriate, as they can not only emphasize the importance of the notary as an independent institution, but also clearly define its place in the system of state bodies and institutions operating in the state.

It was concluded that the constitutional and legal norms, which define the legal status of the notary and/or notary bodies, are usually associated with the presence of a public component in notarial activity, the legally defined connection of the notary with the state, and a wide range of powers of notaries. It has been established that all the above-mentioned three aspects are characteristic of the Ukrainian notary as well. The discrepancy between practice and theory, which consists in the practical application by notaries of the principle laid down in Art. 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine. In addition, the constitutional and legal norm could emphasize the independence and independence of the notary institution and become the basis for the introduction at the level of criminal law norms of the prohibition of interference in notarial activities.

Keywords: notary, legal status, constitutional and legal norms, notarial activity, powers, notary bodies.

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