Can be called civil/Civil law notaries or Latin notaries. Civil law here means ‘kontinentaleuropäischer Recht’, legal systems based on Roman law.
In some Länder (German states), being a notary is a separate profession (Nurnotar), in others someone may be an attorney and a notary (Anwaltsnotar).
Notaries may witness signatures: this is called öffentliche Beglaubigung. Or they may draw up and execute a whole deed: öffentliche Beurkundung. It’s very misleading to translate either of these as notarize, the U.S. term for a notary public witnessing a signature. It’s also unclear whether beglaubigen or beurkunden is meant. I would say ‘notarially certified / certified by a notary’ for the first and ‘notarially recorded’ (for want of anything better) for the second.
Then there is the Beurkundungsgesetz, which could be translated as the Notarial Recording Act. That gives a better idea of its contents than Documents Act.
Another translation point that often throws translators who don’t know the law is the rule in section 3 of the Beurkundungsgesetz: a notary is forbidden from acting in matters if, for example, he has acted for the person in an unofficial capacity before. This is referred to in shorthand as ‘Vorbefassung’. Here is an example of its use:
‘Der Notar hat zu Beginn der Beurkundung nach einer Vorbefassung im Sinne
des BeurkG gefragt; diese wurde verneint.’

Notaries in Germany (France, Italy, Spain and so on) are trained lawyers who draw up documents and execute them. You might go to a notary in connection with buying a house or making a will. Notaries in the USA administer oaths and certify documents. To quote Gifis’ Law Dictionary, ‘secretaries in law offices, bank officers, insurance and real estate agents, small town grocery clerks, drug store clerks, etc. are often licensed notaries’.

Translators should be careful not to downgrade the German notary or upgrade the U.S. notary in their texts. It might suffice to write ‘German notary’ or ‘U.S.-amerikanischer Notar’.

Notare in Deutschland, Frankreich, Italien, Spanien usw. sind Juristen, in den USA sind sie oft Anwaltssekretärinnen. Übersetzer sollten der Unterschiede bewußt sein.

The question was asked at the ATA conference: if, translating out of English into another language, I encounter a ‘notary’ in Britain or Ireland, can I be certain it is like the U.S. notary rather than the civil law notary? The answer is not simple, but in brief, no. There are notaries in England and Wales who are Latin notaries and whose documents will be recognized by foreign courts as evidence. There are also commissioners for oaths, the equivalent of the U.S. notary, but these are also solicitors. A solicitor is automatically a commissioner for oaths. So although the function of witnessing the signature is not very elevated, it is done by lawyers. (I think but am not certain that these commissioners for oaths are called notaries in some parts of the country). More of this in a later entry

Notaries in Germany (France, Italy, Spain and so on) are trained lawyers who draw up documents and execute them. You might go to a notary in connection with buying a house or making a will. Notaries in the USA administer oaths and certify documents. To quote Gifis’ Law Dictionary, ‘secretaries in law offices, bank officers, insurance and real estate agents, small town grocery clerks, drug store clerks, etc. are often licensed notaries’.

Translators should be careful not to downgrade the German notary or upgrade the U.S. notary in their texts. It might suffice to write ‘German notary’ or ‘U.S.-amerikanischer Notar’.

Notare in Deutschland, Frankreich, Italien, Spanien usw. sind Juristen, in den USA sind sie oft Anwaltssekretärinnen. Übersetzer sollten der Unterschiede bewußt sein.

The question was asked at the ATA conference: if, translating out of English into another language, I encounter a ‘notary’ in Britain or Ireland, can I be certain it is like the U.S. notary rather than the civil law notary? The answer is not simple, but in brief, no. There are notaries in England and Wales who are Latin notaries and whose documents will be recognized by foreign courts as evidence. There are also commissioners for oaths, the equivalent of the U.S. notary, but these are also solicitors. A solicitor is automatically a commissioner for oaths. So although the function of witnessing the signature is not very elevated, it is done by lawyers. (I think but am not certain that these commissioners for oaths are called notaries in some parts of the country). More of this in a later entry

More about Repetitor on disLEXia (why is it called disLEXia? I thought it was a reference to law).
Is he the Paul Schneider who died in 1986 and is buried in the Poppelsdorfer Friedhof? Of course, there are other people called Repetitor, but apparently they are usually called Korrepetitor, in English coach (again) or repetiteur, who play the piano and help singers learn their parts.
Frau Klamser’s website is vera nicely written.

More about Repetitor on disLEXia (why is it called disLEXia? I thought it was a reference to law).
Is he the Paul Schneider who died in 1986 and is buried in the Poppelsdorfer Friedhof? Of course, there are other people called Repetitor, but apparently they are usually called Korrepetitor, in English coach (again) or repetiteur, who play the piano and help singers learn their parts.
Frau Klamser’s website is vera nicely written.

Reading Udo’s tale yesterday, I remembered that one of my fellow articled clerks (trainee solicitors) in London later spent time in prison in connection with some financial schemes, probably with clients’ money. It would have been amusing to visit him, but I didn’t hear about it till later.
Another one, Simon Zolan (a Czech name), apparently later worked for a commercial law firm with Spanish connections and is now running a flamenco school in Seville or Jerez (well, somewhere in Andalusia). He has red hair so his stage name is Simón el Rubio. The Internet is a great help in tracking these things down.

And I suspect that this David Fletcher is the right one, as he had spent a year in Finland before qualifying as a barrister and solicitor. (But the photograph must be the other man):

‘Mr David Fletcher, solicitor, who has lectured to Scandinavian audiences on these topics on numerous occasions. He combines legal qualifications and experience (he has also qualified as a barrister) with linguistic expertise. He specialises in Company/Commercial and UK and EU Competition Law. He gives contract-drafting courses in a number of different countries including Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Finland.’

I think some of the articled clerks are working as solicitors, but I’d better not out them.
I am also grateful to Friends Reunited in the UK, which found contacts with a number of people I was at school with. Since most of them had left the area and changed their names, there was no other way I could have done this. You can read the site free of charge, but to post it costs £5 per year for expenses.

One thing I have discovered is that if you scan old roll photos from school, bit by bit, enlarging them in the process of scanning, they are much easier to look at on screen than on paper. Here are some of the pupils of Squirrels Heath Junior School in Romford in 1956.