An act is an instrument

Legal instrument

Legal instrument is a legal term of art that is used for any formally executed written document that can be formally attributed to its author, records and formally expresses a legally enforceable act, process, or contractual duty, obligation, or right, and therefore evidences that act, process, or...

 that records a fact or something that has been said, done, or agreed. Acts generally take the form of legal instruments of writing that have probative value and executory force. They are usually accepted as self-authenticating demonstrative evidence in court proceedings, though with the precarious status of notaries public

Notary public

A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...

 and their acts under common law

Common law

Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

, this is not always so.

Common types of acts are legislative, judicial, and notarial acts.

Legislative Acts

Legislative acts, or more commonly acts of statute, are the cornerstone of statutory and regulatory law. They may include in a monarchical system any royal edict, proclamation, or decree setting forth or establishing law as it affects all citizens. In parliamentary or congressional systems, acts passed by a legislature are known as legislative acts and are specifically called acts of Parliament or acts of Congress.

Notarial Acts

A notarial act (or notarial instrument or notarial writing) is any written narration of facts (recitals) drawn up by a notary public

Notary public

A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...

 or civil-law notary

Civil law notary

Civil-law notaries, or Latin notaries, are lawyers of noncontentious private civil law who draft, take, and record legal instruments for private parties, provide legal advice and give attendance in person, and are vested as public officers with the authentication power of the State...

 authenticated by his signature and official seal and detailing a procedure which has been transacted by or before him in his official capacity. A notarial act is the only lawful means of proving those facts of which it is the recognized record, whereas on other matters it is usually inadmissible, because, being beyond the powers entrusted to the notary by law, it is non-official. In most common-law countries, multiple-page acts are bound together using a sewn or knotted ribbon (referred to as silk), the ends of which are secured by a wafer impressed with the notary's seal. This is called annexing or annexure.

Act in public form

The first category is known as an act in public form (Fr acte en minute, It atto conservato, Du minuutakte, akte in minuut, Ger Urkunde in Urschrift), and is the preserve of notaries-at-law

Notary public

A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...

. Public form acts may take the form of a record of some activity which is intended or required to have evidentiary status, legal or administrative force or effect, or commercial effect. Acts in this form remain the cornerstone of civil-law notarial practice according to which they are composed as single narrative instruments written in the first person perspective of the notary.

The components of an act in public form are:

• protocol (preamble) which sets out introductory matters, noting:
  • notary's name and status
  • date and venue of act
  • appearance of one or more clients (referred to as "appearers") and witnesses before the notary
  • any capacity the appearer appears or is acting in
  • how the notary verified the facts or allegations in the corpus

• corpus (operative part) which:
  • records appearer's declarations through explanation or recital
  • sets out the terms of the power-of-attorney
    Power of attorney
    A power of attorney or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter...
    
    , contract, arrangement, obligation, conveyance, or other legal act embodied in the instrument, and
  • refers to any appended material

• eschatocol
  Eschatocol
  An eschatocol is the final section of a legal or public document, which may include a formulaic sentence of appreciation, and the attestation of those responsible for the document, i.e., the author, the writer, or the countersigner, principal parties involved, and any witnesses to the enactment or...
  
  (conclusion) which attests and certifies:
  • that the document was read over to and acknowledged by the appearer, and signed (and in some cases sealed) by the appearer in the notary's and witnesses' presence, all in due form, and
  • that the conditions of applicable local law concerning the formalities of document execution and binding nature have been met
  • oftentimes the date and venue are repeated
  • and finish with a signature block

• in the past, following an eschatol would come further attestations which were additional notes concerning the due payment of notarial fees, the acknowledgment of interlineation
  Interlineation
  Interlineation is a legal term that signifies a sentence that is newly inserted between previous sentences in a contract both parties had agreed upon previously. Interlineations help clarify specific points of a legal contract, and are useful if some of the terms of a contract become unclear later...
  
  s or corrections, the proper recordation of the act, and any other post-editorial actions.

Traditionally, in civil-law countries, the preliminary drafts, called minutes (formerly protocols; Fr minute, Sp/It minuta, Du minuut, Ger Urschrift), are jotted in legal shorthand and record only the particulars. Their date, appearer, venue, and subject are logged in a notarial register, and the minutes are retained and kept in the notary's protocol (archive) while an engrossment (Fr/Du grosse, It spedizione in forma esecutiva, Sp copia autorizada, Ger Ausfertigung), a fully extended form in long hand under seal and signature, is handed to the appearer. The protocols are used thereafter as a master copy from which exemplifications

Exemplified copy

An exemplified copy is an official attested copy or transcript of a public instrument, made under the seal and original pen-in-hand signature of a court or public functionary and in the name of the sovereign, e.g., "The People of the State of New York"...

(Fr expédition, It spedizione, Sp copia simple, Du authentiek afschrift, Ger beglaubigte Abschrift), i.e. engrossed fair copies, may be made. In common-law countries, notaries prepare multiple duplicate originals fully executed and sealed, as a copy would not be admissible in court. One is archived as a file copy in the notary's protocol.

Act in private form

The second category is known as an act in private form (Fr acte en brevet, It atto rilasciato (in originale), Du brevetakte, akte in originali, Germ im Original ausgelieferte Urkunde), more commonly referred to as a notarial certificate (or docquet in Scotland). This is generally a writing that certifies the due execution in the notary's presence of a deed, contract or other writing or verifies some fact or thing of which the notary has certain knowledge. Notarial certificates are endorsed on or appended to a pre-existing document and attest to its due execution, genuine nature and validity, or legal status and effects. As a safety precaution, the certificate may also contain information such as the number of pages, a description of the document, its title, and any other distinguishing features in order to prevent pages from being added or removed. If affixed, short form certificates may also be embossed with a seal half on the certificate and half on the rest of the page.

Notarial certificates come in full forms or short forms. A full form includes preamble information like the date, venue, appearer's appearance, proof of identification, and so forth, as well as the principal attestation. A short form usually only includes the venue, date, and attestation clause. Both are then ended with a testimonium clause.

Typical parts are:

• the caption which includes the venue, a large right-facing bracket or parentheses followed by "to wit" or the abbreviation ss. for Latin scilicet which means the same thing, and to the right is the title, usually in reference to a case or matter;
• the preamble (see supra);
• the attestation proper, either in clause form or broken out into averments;
• the testimonium clause followed by a notary's signature, either styled with a large bracket and the appearer and witness signature block or with a signature block preceding and notary signature following.
  • Typical examples:
    • IN FAITH AND TESTIMONY WHEREOF I, the said Notary, have hereunto set and subscribed my hand and affixed my Notarial seal on this (day) day of (month) two thousand and (year). (India)
    • IN WITNESS of which I have subscribed my name and affixed my seal of office at (city) aforesaid this (day) of (month) Two thousand and (year). (Australia)
    • IN FAITH AND TESTIMONY whereof I the said notary have subscribed my name and set and affixed my seal of office at (city) aforesaid this (day) day of (month) two thousand and (year). (England)
    • IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my Notarial form and official seal of Office. (Canada)
    • IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office. (U.S.)