TITLE XLII NOTARIES, COMMISSIONERS, JUSTICES OF THE PEACE, AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER 456-B UNIFORM LAW ON NOTARIAL ACTS
Section 456-B:1
456-B:1 Definitions. –
I. "Notarial act" means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer is authorized to perform under the law of this state, and includes taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification upon oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy, and noting a protest of a negotiable instrument.
II. "Acknowledgment" means a declaration by an individual before a notarial officer that the individual has signed a record for the purposes stated therein and, if the record is signed in a representative capacity, that the individual signed the record with proper authority and signed it as the act of the individual or entity identified therein.
III. "Verification upon oath or affirmation" means a declaration that a statement is true made by an individual upon oath or affirmation.
IV. "In a representative capacity" means acting as:
(a) An authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee, or other representative for a person other than an individual;
(b) A public officer, personal representative, guardian, or other representative, in the capacity recited in the instrument;
(c) An agent or attorney in fact for a principal; or
(d) In any other capacity as an authorized representative of another.
V. "Notarial officer" means a notary public, justice of the peace, or other officer authorized to perform notarial acts.
VI. "Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
VII. "Electronic signature" means an electronic symbol, sound, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by an individual with the intent to sign the record.
VIII. "Notary public" means an individual appointed to perform a notarial act by the governor and executive council.
IX. "Official stamp" means an official seal of office consisting of a physical image affixed to or embossed on a tangible record or an electronic image attached to or logically associated with an electronic record.
X. "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, statutory trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.
XI. "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
XII. "Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:
(a) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(b) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.
XIII. "Signature" means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record.
XIV. "Stamping device" means:
(a) A physical device capable of affixing to or embossing on a tangible record an official stamp; or
(b) An electronic device or process capable of attaching to or logically associating with an electronic record an official stamp.
XV. "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
Source. 2005, 118:10, eff. Jan. 1, 2006. 2021, 206:2, Pt. II, Sec. 3, eff. Feb. 6, 2022.