The future notary : raising the bar using a tech-based approach

Abstract

The main goal of this report was to find out whether it could be possible for the notarial profession to be conducted completely online; or, in simpler terms, be able to conduct the job entirely through technology. Albeit, this may seem farfetched, it is a possibility that may be put into work by virtue of the technological innovations that are paving the way for the future. Nevertheless, for these changes to occur, there also have to be regulatory changes, which is also examined later on in this report. It was inevitable that this report adopts the “black letter law” method. There are a number of countries that have adopted this way of contracting, and others are on their way to incorporating it as well. Due to the fact that such a topic is still quite recent, there were not many legal disputes that could be examined, such as cases of breach of smart contracts. Thus, the approach taken was to observe other countries such as Belarus and analyse how they incorporated the use of technology into the contracting procedure. Hence, whilst regulations in this regard were researched, other notions such as the process behind online contracts, blockchain, and other aspects were gathered from various other sources. Such sources include articles, research papers, and books. Maltese legislation and where it stands on these matters were also explored in order to be compare such aspects to other countries that have already made advances for notaries in the technological sphere. Thus, the concept of ‘comparative research’ was also used, since these aid in evaluating the differences between these jurisdictions. By applying this type of methodology in the report, the author could easily distinguish if there were any gaps that need to be filled in order for this to become a possibility, and hence, reach a constructive conclusion.