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Louisiana's Notary Public and Notarial Acts: Home

The Notary Public

With many things, there is one way for 49 states, and then there is the Louisiana Way. In 49 states, a notary public is just a regular person who can witness a signature and stamp a document. "Anybody can be a notary," as Col. Winchester once said. In Louisiana, however, a notary public is a totally different animal.

Notaries date back to Roman law. In ancient Spain, the king himself appointed notaries. Here in Louisiana, a notary can draft and prepare legal documents, something that can only be done by an attorney in other states. Notaries have prepared wills, land sales, and contracts, as well as taking depositions. This guide should show the reader just inseparable a notary and notarial documents are from every aspect of Louisiana law.

A simple deposition, sworn before a notary.

scan of sepia tone document: deposition, sworn before notary public Louis S. Prejean at Baton Rouge, contains the statement of Jewel O'Neal that she was a student nurse at Our Lady of the Lake Sanitarium and assisted Dr. Arthur Vidrine while the doctor was attending to Huey Long on the night of Sept. 8, 1935. O'Neal states that she was present and witnessed Vidrine ask Long about "this place on your lip," and that Long replied, "That's where he hit me."

Courtesy Historic New Orleans Collection

Act of sale of property

scan of a decree of the Supreme Court of Louisiana in 1857 empowered the City of New Orleans to administer funds from the estate of John D. Fink for the purpose of erecting and maintaining an Asylum for Protestant Widows and Orphans, in accordance with the provisions of the Fink will. Subsequently, the city offered certain properties for sale at auction, and Christopher Joynt purchased, for $4,000, a lot situated on Lafayette Street, between Franklin and Basin.

A decree of the Supreme Court of Louisiana in 1857 empowered the City of New Orleans to administer funds from the estate of John D. Fink for the purpose of erecting and maintaining an Asylum for Protestant Widows and Orphans, in accordance with the provisions of the Fink will. Subsequently, the city offered certain properties for sale at auction, and Christopher Joynt purchased, for $4,000, a lot situated on Lafayette Street, between Franklin and Basin. French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, and Nineteenth-Century Louisiana Documents. Tulane University Special Collections, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.

Librarian

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Francis Norton
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Law Library of Louisiana
400 Royal Street
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New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
504-310-2405

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