THE LATIN NOTARY PUBLIC
In real estate transactions the role of a Notary Public is of extreme importance, and due to the great amount these represent, the Mexican Law requires these kind of transactions are made by means of public instruments and the only authority to be able to grant and issue them is a Notary Public.
The participation of a Notary Public in real estate transactions provides certainty and legal security the them, so all acts held by or before a Notary Public are in principle, true and strictly in due accordance with the law; that is why those acts granted before them are valid throughout the entire national territory apart from their local value.
In effect, the Latin Notary Public is a law professional, an expert in this area, a protector of legal procedures and formalities; a counselor, a guide, a protector of the interests of those parties engaged in a transaction, whatever it is. He/she is also a representative of the government, and by means of them, legal value and security is given to all acts or transactions held before them.
Nevertheless, it is important to underline that the Latin Notary Public figure quite differs from those powers and faculties the Anglo-Saxon Notary Public, or the system known as Common Law, where the Notary Public is just a certifier of signatures and not of the contents of documents. Different from the Anglo-Saxon Notary Public, the Latin Notary Public must be a lawyer, with integrity, and proved professional experience, and furthermore, he/she has to compete with other candidates in order to get a Notary License. It is something that does not happen with the Anglo-Saxon Notaries, who might be not lawyers, and just require a payment of fees in order to be appointed as Notaries.
The Latin Notary Public is not limited just to certifying the authenticity of signatures stamped on a document, but the mere writer of instruments signed before him/her, a mutual advisor and never partial; due to the powers vested in him/her, also a public officer, in spite of not being part of those contributors to the Public Administration or any other government institution, and likely a tax withholder of those taxes derived from real estate transactions held before him/her.
In brief, we must always procure for the execution of real estate transactions before a Notary Public, for this mere fact adds the legal validity these kind of acts require and with this we avoid those real estate transactions made in any kind of private document or before witnesses.
