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The origin and early history of the office of notary

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BrownJC_1935redux.pdf (20.62Mb)
Date
1935
Author
Brown, James Cowie
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Abstract
 
 
WE have endeavoured to trace the office of the Notary from the earliest time records are available until the end of the sixth century. Shortly thereafter occurred a period pf " darkness " until the revival of law with _ the school at Bologna in the eleventh century.' From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries the "glossators" and their successors flourished and laid the foundations of a more complete revival of Roman law. In this period the notarius -the equivalent of the earlier tabellio- carried through the functions laid down by Justinian with addenda necessitated by the growth of international trade. Indeed a major part of the office of the notarius lay in certifying documents relative to the "law merchant."
 
In the sixteenth century the science of theoretical law passed to France, where in 1550 we find Cujas at the head of Roman law teaching at Bourges.2 In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the centre of Roman law teaching lay in France and the Netherlands, Leyden and Utrecht (where many Scots jurists studied) competing for distinction with Bourges and Toulouse, until the sway of influence again reverted to France with the juristic omnipotence of Pothier. Finally, the most notable figure of pre- moderns was Savigny in Germany, who has so frequently been quoted as an authority in these pages. Reference also might possibly be made to Heineccius, whose influence in Germany in the eighteenth century was outstanding.
 
From the middle of the eighth till the end of the thirteenth centuries it is definite that one uniform legal system prevailed in Ravenna, Rome and Naples.' So far as our special subject is concerned, tabellio retained its original meaning -in effect more as a profession and a business than as a public office. Savigny tells us 2 that " the old corporate constitution of the Tabellions had survived without any interruption, and the Prototabellio,3 occasionally mentioned, is the president of this incorporation, and the same person with the Primicerius 3 of preceding times or with the Major 3 of the thirteenth century.
 
Notarius was still, as in the earlier centuries, peculiar to certain officers in the Chancery of the Church of Ravenna, who might also be tabellions.4 This distinction, however, gradually disappeared and notarius became the general term as among the Lombards.5 This notarius is the direct forerunner of the notary in Scots, English and French law. " The old exceptor," continues Savigny, "often occurs under that or similar designations." J. There seems little doubt that the office of Notary retained practically all its Justinianian features in the "Dark Ages " of law until we are able to resume more detailed information from the jurists of the Bologna school and their successors.
 
A comparison of Roman notarial instruments with the earlier Scots notarial instruments (of which one, dated 1500, of Alexr. Myln, subsequently 'a President of the Court of Session, is reproduced as a frontispiece to this thesis), shews that the intrinsic features of the former are reproduced in the latter.3 This is a subject for examination beyond the scope of this thesis, but sufficient has been said to substantiate a direct link of Civil law with the early law of Scotland in a most important sphere.
 
Finally, reference should here be made to Dr. Maitland Thomson's erudite work on The Public Records of Scotland, and in particular to his account of the Notary, which should prove invaluable for continuation of this study.
 
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http://hdl.handle.net/1842/29444
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