NEW, NotaryTalk of England and Wales, is a website/forum run by Gregory Taylor, a notary public, not a scrivener notary. There are sections for links, news, German, French and Spanish pages and much more. A large number of articles both introduce the various notary professions and current problems. An important topic is the potential recognition of notaries from England and Wales in Europe.
I have had a few entries on notaries in the past – search for ‘notary’ in the blog. Not long after I started this blog in 2003, I went to a conference where I encountered Spanish-speaking lawyer-translators from South America who did not believe me when I told them about scrivener notaries in the UK.
“a notary public, not a scrivener notary”
You phrase it in such a way that someone ignorant of the latter qualification (as I was) might imagine that it does not entail being a notary public *as well*.
Is it in fact a different profession, or is it rather a title accruing from membership in an ancient mediaeval livery company? The upper reach of the notary profession, as it were?
See http://www.johnvenn.co.uk/title.htm
Well, it is a different profession, though it lost its monopoly in the City of London a few years ago – see
earlier entry on notaries.
I actually thought they had separate training, but it seems one normally starts off with a law degree, or a language degree and the CPE – Common Professional Examination – so it’s a quicker process becoming one nowadays (I have a memory it used to take five years). Did you see the information on your link that ‘they are the only Notaries from a Common Law based legal system that have been recognised as having the same status as their Civil Law colleagues’? I imagine that was not so much because of the age of their governing body as because of their interaction with foreign lawyers in the City of London.
In England and Wales, a (non-scrivener) notary is normally a solicitor, whereas in the USA it’s not necessary to be a lawyer (except for civil-law notaries in Louisiana and Alabama (Florida?)).
I don’t know if this answers your question, mind you – maybe I misunderstood it.
That expensive tome, Brooke’s Notary, that set us back the princely sum of GBP 175 also claims {Scrivener} Notaries are the oldest branch of the legal profession in England & Wales.
So I am unsure it is a different profession. A ‘Regional Notary Public’ i.e. outside of the City of London confines and Royal Exchange radius could apply to become a member of the Worshipful Company of Scriveners by clocking up a few extra exams, like 2 languages with foreign law exams – easier said than done. There are about 2 or 3 admissions a year, usually from scratch – I have that on good authority.