Notion and functions of notaries

The notariate institute was formed in different ways in Europe, and today does not have a clear agreed concept that could correspond to the legal systems of all civilized states. It has the characteristic features of this institution in Russia, most often performing the function of legalizing legal documents. In particular, specialists in this field work with wills, powers of attorney, certificates of real estate, etc. At the same time, the functions of the notary are not limited to just validating the validity. In some cases, the organization of this profile can also provide the services of the Bar.

Notary Notion

In general, the Institute of Notaries is designed to protect the legal interests of citizens through the implementation of actions provided for by law. An important feature of this activity is that they are committed on behalf of the state. As for the definitions of this institution, they diverge even in the circles of specialists. This is due to the wide scope of the legal spheres in which the notary is applied. The concept and functions of its executors affect both law enforcement and judicial as well as fiscal jurisdictional aspects, which complicates approaches to the formation of a single definition. Nevertheless, the most common concept is that according to which the notary is defined as a system of state structures and officials who certify uncontested facts and rights. Also, the list of their tasks includes the examination of documents and extracts, which gives the latter validity.

On the other hand, there is also a criticism of this representation of the notarial institution, which notes that state bodies, together with officials, can not characterize a modern system of this type. Today, the tasks and functions of the notary are more likely to be performed by representatives of the state, or by persons authorized by them who testify and commit acts in the legal field.

Principles of the notary's activity

The very nature of the activity of the notary provides for a considerable individual responsibility - accordingly, much in the quality of the work of the bearers of this right is determined by personal qualities. To date, a list of principles has been formed, which determine the true nature of the notarial institution. In particular, such activities should be characterized by high legal qualifications. The specialist of this profile should provide legal services to clients, explaining their rights, duties, and also warning about the consequences for the performance of certain actions.

Equally important are the principles of security and predictability. The notary must ensure the registration of rights in the proper order, ensuring also the reliability of operations and evidence. It is these principles and functions of the notary that make the relations of its representatives with clients predictable, and legal interests protected. Important and impartiality, according to which the independence of the activities of offices from various factors, except the law, is ensured.

Types of notary functions

The activity of the notariat is multidirectional, however, it is possible to single out the basic ramification of its functions, which characterize the specifics and essence of the tasks. To begin with, one aspect should be noted that helps to understand the special place of this institution in the legal sphere. It is connected with the fact that the functions of the notariat are based on two goals set by the Russian legal system. This is the socio-legal protection of citizens and the fulfillment of a protective task. In accordance with these goals, all functions of the notary can be divided into two types - social and content.

The social functions include fiscal, preventive and preventive, as well as legal implementation. The fiscal function is that the notary, in accordance with the established procedure, must notify the tax authorities of the issuance of certificates of inheritance rights, conclusion of gift agreements, etc. The preventive and preventive function is reduced to ensuring the possibility of resolving many conflict situations in pre-trial order at the stage Indisputable agreement.

The right-realization sociological function of the notary, in turn, provides the necessary legal conditions for persons who have applied for a certain legal action. Now we need to consider in more detail the functions of a meaningful nature.

The protective function of notaries

In the course of performing their duties within the framework of the powers entrusted to the notarial proceedings, participants must also have appropriate protection of rights. It is expressed in assistance to participants in the system in the performance of legal activities. It is important to note the importance of controlling responsibility, under which the notary operates. The functions, organization and participants in the process are included in the supervisory system, which also allows appealing any decision in a judicial procedure.

At the same time, it must be remembered that the actions of a notary do not have the character of administrative coercion, although the performer of functions is an official. In connection with the latter aspect, court control operates, which provides the possibility of correcting notarial errors. Together with judicial control, supervision of the performance of professional duties of representatives of notaries is also noted. Participants of the system who work in state offices are monitored by the justice bodies. On the other hand, the main functions of notaries in private practice are controlled by special chambers, which, incidentally, are often criticized because of the large number of shortcomings in the work of procedural mechanisms. For example, notary chambers can not be subject to state control.

Jurisdictional function of the notary

This function follows from the tasks of the notary, which are before him as a body of civil jurisdiction. This means that, unlike a court, a notary not only deals with the resolution of established conflict situations, but also performs their primary regulation. But this does not prevent the specialists of this niche from engaging in all forms of jurisdictional activity. For example, a notary may perform tasks of a pragmatic and operational-executive nature. Moreover, the jurisdictional functions of the notary in the Russian Federation may well extend to the implementation of law enforcement activities related to the enforcement of civil rights.

The main difference of this kind of activity is not so much the permissive as the precautionary character. Those tasks that notarial experts solve at the basic level of their powers, largely prevent controversial legal situations that could potentially take shape in legal conflicts.

Certifying functions of notaries

In the Russian legal sphere, it is the complex of certifying functions that can be considered basic, from the point of view of notarial activity. As already noted, representatives of this system are vested with powers that allow them to give the documents legal weight on behalf of the state. From this it follows that any significant legal actions of the participants in the process are of a legal nature, but their interaction in the system of the notarial certification mechanism gives them a different level.

Procedures of this kind, like the law enforcement function of the notary, can extend to legal transactions and the examination of facts. That is, in this case, the notary certifies legal actions, guided by control or human rights powers. It is noted that this function provides, as its basis, an accurate statement of acts and facts, while preserving the evidentiary power of these legal means.

Public and private notary activities

In the current legislation it is stipulated that notarial actions are performed only by authorized specialists. However, notaries can belong to both the state system and private practice, as a result of which a combination of two types of offices is observed. In both cases, both the substantive and sociological function of the notary are carried out in accordance with general principles.

As practice shows, the competence, level of training and conscientiousness of notaries who work in government structures and deal with servicing clients on a private basis are in most cases comparable. Moreover, representatives of both directions in the work are guided by unified regulations, rules, and also have powers similar in legal force.

However, the procedure for the formation of public and private notary offices is somewhat different. Thus, state organizations are opened and abolished by the decision of the local administration at the level of the regional and district departments. As for private offices, they are created directly on the initiative of the notary, subject to its approval. But after that a notary representative is not recognized as a legal person. This is important for understanding property liability, which is preserved in the same amount as in the case of individuals. That is, if the functions of the notary were performed improperly from the point of view of jurisprudence and as a result caused damage to property, compensation can be provided at the expense of personal property.

Legal regulation of notaries

Legislation of the Russian Federation on the notary has worked out a set of normative legal acts intended for different areas of activity. At the same time, all the basic legal principles of notaries come from the Constitution. For example, in the main act, it is enshrined that private, state and municipal bodies have powers equally and are also accountable to the law.

If, on the other hand, the Constitution is analyzed as a source from which the developers of the basic standards were moved to regulate the legal status of notaries, several directions can be identified. First of all, these are general standards that regulate the sequence of activity of notaries. It is also possible to single out a group of special norms that purposefully formulate specific principles on which the advocacy and notary work. Functions at the same time are subject to the need to protect the principles of law, and not the motives of political and other expediency. This is especially important in the context of the struggle for the formation of new legislation on the notarial institution, when there is a clash of positions regarding the further development of the legal system.

In particular, many experts advocate that Russia should follow the classical Latin form of the notary, while others advocate full stateization of the institution, as it was in the Soviet legal system.

Functions of the Federal Chamber of Notaries

Like ordinary private and public notary chambers, the federal agency of the system refers to non-profit organizations. In essence, this is a union of professionals from different regions of the country, which is based on their mandatory membership. At the same time, the federal chamber of notaries is a legal entity that performs its work on the principle of self-government. The functions of this structure are based on the fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation and its own charter, which is adopted by representatives of notary chambers and is approved in procedural order, according to which charters of public associations are registered. There is also a difference in the tasks that are performed by ordinary offices and the federal notary.

Functions, powers and goals largely coincide with the structures of the entry level, but there are fundamental differences. They are clearly manifested in the following responsibilities of the body:

• Coordination of primary public and private notary chambers.
• Ensuring the protection of the professional and social rights of members of the notary who are engaged in private practice.
• Representation of interests of notary chambers in bodies of execution of the government, and also in the organizations, the enterprises and establishments.
• Maintenance of increase of a qualifying level of notaries, and also their assistants and trainees.
• Participation in the examination of the draft laws of the Russian Federation on issues related to activities in the notary area.
• Representation of notary chambers in organizations at the international level.
• Organization of insurance activities of notaries.

Conclusion

The Notariate Institute covers a wide field of legal activity, while preserving special features of the legal structure. In some ways such offices serve as a link between different subjects of the legal sphere, optimizing the processes of resolving conflict situations and allowing more effective protection of the interests of citizens. At the same time, the functions of the Russian notary have limitations stemming from normative acts, which, in turn, derive from the Constitution.

In addition, the activities of notaries in a broad sense are governed by the principles of legal reliability, security, impartiality and legal ethics. Also, there are signs of the separation of the institute into two directions, which are represented by private and public offices. Despite similar features, there is a significant difference in approaches to the organization of two types of offices. Thus, private notaries provide their activities on the basis of their personal financial capabilities, which relieves the state of the need for monetary support, in effect, one of its main tasks - guaranteeing the legal security of citizens.