Editing Notary public (section)

==Civil law jurisdictions==
{{Main|Civil law notary}}
The role of notaries in [[civil law (legal system)|civil law]] countries is much greater than in [[common law]] countries. Civilian notaries are full-time lawyers and holders of a public office who routinely undertake non-contentious transactional work done in common law countries by attorneys/solicitors, as well as, in some countries, those of government registries, title offices, and public recorders. The qualifications imposed by civil law countries are much greater, requiring generally an undergraduate law degree, a graduate degree in notarial law and practice, three or more years of practical training ("articles") under an established notary, and the sitting of a national examination, to be admitted to practice. Typically, notaries work in private practice and earn fees, but a small minority of countries have salaried public service (or "government" / "state") notaries (e.g., [[Ukraine]], [[Russia]], [[Baden-Württemberg]] in [[Germany]] (until 2017), certain cantons of [[Switzerland]], and Portugal).

Notaries in civil law countries have had a critical historical role in providing archives. A considerable amount of historical data of tremendous value is available in France, Spain and Italy thanks to notarial minutes, contracts and conveyances, some of great antiquity which have survived in spite of losses, deterioration and willful destruction.

Civil law notaries have jurisdiction over strictly non-contentious domestic civil-private law in the areas of property law, family law, agency, wills and succession, and company formation. The point to which a country's notarial profession monopolizes these areas can vary greatly. On one extreme is France (and French-derived systems) which statutorily give notaries a monopoly over their reserved areas of practice, as opposed to [[Austria]] where there is no discernible monopoly whatsoever and notaries are in direct competition with attorneys/solicitors.

In the few United States jurisdictions where trained notaries are allowed (such as [[Louisiana]] and [[Puerto Rico]]), the practice of these legal practitioners is limited to legal advice on purely non-contentious matters that fall within the purview of a notary's reserved areas of practice.