Public Notaries Act 1843

Every person who has been duly admitted, sworn, and enrolled a public notary in England may take, have, and retain any clerk or apprentice to serve him under the provisions of the said recited Act or of this Act in the proper business of a public notary, or if such person is also an attorney or solicitor in any of the courts of law or equity, or a proctor in any ecclesiastical court in England or Wales, to serve him at the same time in the general business of a notary as well as that of an attorney, solicitor, or proctor; and no person who shall have regularly and duly served any such public notary, being also an attorney, solicitor or proctor, for the time required by the said recited Act or this Act, and be otherwise entitled to be admitted a public notary, shall be prevented or disqualified from being so admitted a public notary by reason of his having also served a clerkship to such public notary or his partner as an attorney, solicitor or proctor during the same time or any part thereof.

Provided always, that no public notary may have and retain any such clerk or apprentice to serve him, under the provisions of the said Act or of this Act, if he has been admitted, sworn, and enrolled a public notary for the purpose only of carrying on any business, or holding or exercising any office or appointment, and not as a general practitioner; nor shall any public notary be allowed to have and retain such clerk or apprentice after he shall have discontinued or left off or during such time as he shall not actually practice and carry on the profession or business of public notary.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F7 in case any person shall have been or shall be bound by any contract to serve and shall have actually served as a clerk or apprentice for the term of five years any public notary as aforesaid, and shall have caused an affidavit to be made and filed as to the due execution of such contract, and shall have complied with the other provisions of the said recited Act, save as to the length of service, then and in such case every such person shall be qualified and entitled to be sworn, admitted, and enrolled a public notary to practise in England, as fully and effectually as any person having been bound and having served seven years as required by the said recited Act, would be qualified and entitled to be sworn, admitted, and enrolled a public notary under and by virtue of the said recited Act: Provided always, that no person shall be entitled to be admitted and enrolled a public notary at the expiration of the term of five years, if bound for a longer time, without the affidavit required by the said recited Act as to the execution of any contract be not filed within the time required by the said Act the same may be filed by the proper officer after the expiration thereof, but the service of such clerk shall be reckoned to commence and be computed from the day of filing such affidavit, unless the master of the faculties shall otherwise order; and such service shall be as effectual, and the public notary and clerk shall be equally bound for and during the term, reckoning as aforesaid, as if such term had been originally intended and mentioned in the contract.

The master of the faculties for the time being may make any general rule or rules requiring testimonials, certificates, or proofs as to the character, integrity, ability, and competency of any person who shall hereafter apply for admission or re-admission as a public notary to practise either in England or in any of her Majesty’s foreign territories, colonies, settlements, dominions, forts, factories, or possessions, whether such person shall have served a clerkship or not, and from time to time alter and vary such rules as to the master of the faculties shall seem meet, and may admit or reject any person so applying, at his discretion, any law, custom, usage, or prescription to the contrary notwithstanding.

Provided always that if the master of the faculties shall refuse to grant any faculty to practise as a public notary to any person without just and reasonable cause, then the chancellor of England or the lord keeper of the great seal for the time being, upon complaint thereof being made, shall direct the Queen’s writ to the said master of the faculties to the effect and shall proceed thereon according to the intent and meaning of the M1Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533, and in manner and form as is therein provided and set forth in case of the refusal of any licences, dispensations, faculties, instruments, or other writings, as fully and effectually, and with the same powers and authority, as if the same were here inserted and re-enacted.

Provided always, that nothing herein–contained F8nor any service under this Act shall authorize any person to be admitted a public notary to practise within the jurisdiction of the Incorporated Company of Scriveners of London.

Every person to be admitted and enrolled a public notary shall, before a faculty is granted to him authorizing him to practice as such, . . . F2 make oath before the said master of the faculties, his surrogate or other proper officer, in substance and to the effect following:

“I A.B. do swear, that I will faithfully exerice the office of a public notary; I will faithfully make contracts or instruments for or between any party or parties requiring the same, and I will not add or diminish any thing without the knowledge and consent of such party or parties that may alter the substance of the fact; I will not make or attest any act, contract, or instrument in which I shall know there is violence or fraud; and in all things I will act uprightly and justly in the business of a public notary, according to the best of my skill and ability.” . . . F2

The master of the faculties for the time being, or his surrogate, shall and he is hereby authorized and empowered to issue commissions to take any oaths, affidavits, affirmations, or declarations required by law to be taken before the grant of any faculty, marriage licence, or other instrument issuing from the said office of faculties; and all oaths, affidavits, affirmations, or declarations taken before the commissioner so appointed, and the faculty, marriage licence, or other instrument granted in pursuance thereof, shall be as valid and effectual as if such oath, affidavit, affirmation, or declaration was taken before the said master or his surrogate, anything in any Act or law to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.

No person who has been admitted and enrolled a public notary shall be liable to be struck off the rolls for or on account of any defect in the articles of clerkship, or in the registry thereof, or in his service under such articles, or in his admission and enrolment, unless the application for striking him off the roll be made within twelve months from the time of his admission and enrolment; provided that such articles, registration, service, admission, or enrolment be without fraud.

In case any person shall, in his own name or in the name of any other person, make, do, act, exercise, or execute or perform, any act, matter, or thing whatsoever of or in anywise appertaining or belonging to the office, function, or practice of a public notary, for or in expectation of any gain, fee, or reward, without being able to prove, if required, that he is duly authorized so to do, every such person for every such offence shall forfeit and pay the sum of fifty pounds, to be sued for and recovered by action of debt, plaint, or information in F10the High Court, or, if the cause of action shall have arisen in any colony or place to her Majesty belonging out of England, then in the supreme court of law of such colony or place, provided the action for the recovery thereof shall be commenced within twelve months next after the fact committed; and, save so far as they are altered or repealed, or repugnant to the provisions of this Act, the like remedies for recovering thereof, and all other the rules, directions, powers, and provisions contained in the said recited Act, F11and also in the M2Public Notaries Act 1833, shall and may severally and respectively attach and be in force as fully and effectually as if the said penalties were imposed, or the said remedies were given, or the same powers, rules, directions, and provisions were particularly enacted, in or by this Act, or repealed and re–enacted.