Re: xy3-spain to xy4-uweb119

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from "Patricia M. Godfrey"  on Mon, 13
Feb 2006 17:24:40 -0500


> Here notaries just stamp documents to
> certify them official.

Nowadays. But originally (well, *originally*, way way back, notaries wrote
legal documents, as lawyers do today; but in the USA...) their chief function
was to certify that an illiterate signator, who placed his "mark" (X) on
documents, was indeed the person who was intended or entitled to sign. An
anachronism, really. Witnesses served a different purpose. They swore that
the person who signed actually *understood* what they were signing -- an
important issue in an unlettered society. In some states, e.g. Maine, notaries
still take their job seriously: you hold up your right hand, they read a
statement asking whether you are who you say you are, whether you can read and
write, and you swear. In New York, they just say "gimme two dollars", and
wham! stamp the document.

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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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