PROFESSION : NOTARY [FRANCE]
This
article first appeared in
La
Gazette du Gers
Office :
27 rue Gambetta 32100 CONDOM, France
Tel. : 00 33 562 68 19 54 - Fax: 00 33 5 62 68 13 99
e.mail:
info@lagazettedugers.com
and appears on this website by kind permission of the
Publication Director and Editor-in-Chief of
La Gazette
François Missonnier.
Please
click
HERE
for the original French version of this article.
True to its mission to broaden and improve its
content,
La Gazette
has decided to create a column intended to shed light on
some less talked-about professions and activities,
professions which may be known to us, but are not always
fully understood. However, for both French citizens and
foreigners who have decided to live in France, knowing
about the “ins and outs” of these professions
can prove vital, and this is particularly the case for
legal and civil professions. We will provide the women and
men of various disciplines the opportunity of explaining
what they do, in this, our new weekly column entitled
“Profession :…”.
With the
agreement of the
Conseil Régional des Notaires (Regional Notary
Council),
Maître Mercadier, notary
in Fleurance, past-president of the Conseil Régional des
Notaires and current treasurer, agreed to meet with us for
an interview.
François
Missonnier:
Maître, what is a notary and what is his or her main role ?
Maître
Mercadier : A
notary is a public servant, historically appointed by the
king of France, and the profession is an old one. In
certain respects, we are the true heirs of Roman law. The
notary serves as primarily a mediator between parties,
acting as an impartial witness in non-contentious issues
while also verifying and certifying oaths between parties.
The notary’s aim is to ensure peaceful legal
relations between people. It is certainly true that,
contrary to the Anglo-Saxon system - where each party
brings his lawyer and it is the more convincing magistrate
of the two who imposes his views on the issue at hand - in
France, when the two parties meet, during a sale for
example, and each brings their own notary, the notaries act
on both clients’ behalf. They are representatives of
state law and cannot involve themselves in litigious
issues. One saying we have in the profession is that the
notary is “the magistrate of the courteous”.
F.M
: In
what circumstances does a notary then become involved ?
M.M:
It is the civil code that governs our field of work,
encompassing family law, securities law, selling rights,
disability rights and inheritance law. All aspects of civil
law, in fact. The notary’s vocation overlaps with
other professions; lawyers, bailiffs, etc., and extends
into such areas as fiscal law, rural law, construction law
and urban development law. We can also add several other
areas of the law to those ; in fact, a notary is a legal
generalist. He intervenes independently as a representative
of the state to ensure that all the legal issues he is
dealing with for his clients will be incontestable. He or
she adds their official seal and signature to writs, make
them legally binding, and the notary delivers certified
copies that read, “In the name of the people of
France, the Republic mandates and orders…”.
F.M.
: What
other duties do notaries perform ?
M.M.
: One important duty is to conserve legal documents for a
period of one hundred years. Thereafter, the documents are
sent to the departmental archives. In the past, during the
period of the English feudal system for example, proof of
property was extremely difficult to obtain, it has only
been since 1990 that the conservation of such legal
documents has been comparable to that of France. The notary
is also trained to provide legal guidance, and in
particular, to keep his client continually up-to-date
regarding legal matters. We are one of those professions
where continuous education is the most intensive. In
France, the average person takes about two hours of
continuing education courses per year; in the United
States, 10 hours; for notaries, it amounts to 15 days per
year! We can thus mediate in practically all areas of law
and refer our clients to legal specialists when dealing
with highly technical matters.
F.M. : In
this case, are your fees codified ?
M.M. : No,
they’re not, but when our counselling services
involve our certifying documents, they are included in the
price of the certification. The law specifies that certain
legal documents require notarial approval, and in this
framework, the notary’s counselling fees are
included, quite naturally. These legal documents are very
important in the lives of the person and include marriage
and adoption certificates, where proof of authenticity is
vital. Then, there are documents that require a
scrutinising eye, such as donations, joint donations and
resulting tax issues. Finally, there are legal documents
pertaining to real estate regulation. In effect, the
settling of estates is extremely important to the
individual and justly requires the services of a notary.
F.M.
: What
are the prospects for the profession ?
M.M.
: The
profession is changing radically at this time. The Internet
has revolutionised our work and we are covering whole new
areas. For example, we can pull models from land registry
offices that enable us to publish information online. We
have a central database - invented by French notaries - of
the latest civic documents, which has been extended into
Belgium and recently Austria. But the big revolution has
just begun; it’s what we call Télé-@ctes wherein the
goal is to be able to publish relevant legal documents
directly on the Internet along with storing mortgage
information. This technology speeds up the process
considerably. In addition, with Télé-@ctes, transactions
will be monitored by the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignation
(The Bank of Deposits and Consignments) and the Trésor
Public (Public Treasury.) This universal system will
eventually allow for direct and safe transactions with
banks, especially with regard to loans, which will help
reduce delays. The French notary system is recognised
globally for its benchmark technology to the point where
China, the greatest up-and-coming world power, has adopted
our system.
From an interview with
François Missonnier.
Translated by
Lisa Marshall-Malterre
CLICK
HERE
FOR LIST OF MEMBERS OF "NEW"