Responsibilities and liabilities of a notary public in Malta

Abstract

A notary public is a public officer who is charged to receive acts inter vivos and wills, to attribute public faith thereto, be responsible for their custody and to give out copies and extracts of or from such acts or wills. In order to better understand the role and the position of a Notary Public today, one needs to look at the history and the development of the profession throughout the years. The earliest record of Notaries where the scribes (or “scribae”) dating back to the time of Ancient Egypt and the pyramids although it is said that the professional finds its origin within the Roman Empire in the form of Emperor slaves, who were basically educated slaves doing clerical work for the Emperor. The role gradually developed into that of a “tabularii” and “notarii” who used to write down in short hand the speeches of any wealthy Roman who needed their service and to record judicial proceedings. Eventually this became a recognised profession. During the twelfth (12th) century, notaries gained importance in civil law. It was then the School of Bologna, who laid down formalities which notaries had to abide by and hence, the concept of the Notary Public as a qualified legal profession arose. The Notarial Profession in Malta has been around since before the Knights of St. John. The oldest volume of notarial deeds which can be found in the Notarial Archives of Malta belong to Notary Paolo Bonello and dates back to the 1460’s, thus being one the oldest in Europe. While the basics of the notarial profession have remained somewhat the same, some aspects of the profession have changed profoundly, amongst which are some of the responsibilities and certain liabilities which a notary public in Malta may incur. Today, notaries provide a variety of different services in matters concerning property, commercial, succession and private agreements. The notary should always be fair and impartial towards both parties as he is entrusted by the State Authority to attribute public faith to the deeds he receives and to collect tax accordingly. This is the dual façade of the notarial profession – that of being a liberal profession and that of being a public officer. Throughout this study, we shall be delving into the responsibilities dealing with different types of responsibilities which are criminal and civil, disciplinary and fiscal responsibility of the notary public in Malta and its implications. I have chosen this topic because I think that the general public does not really understand what it means to be a notary public in Malta and what responsibilities notaries are faced with. I would like to delve more into the subject to pinpoint the utmost responsibilities of the notary and to be aware of the consequences that follow if these responsibilities are not followed accordingly.