Duties and Professional Ethics
Ethics for notaries combines impartiality, confidentiality, diligence, integrity, and independence. A notary serves the public interest, not the instructing party alone, and must avoid conflicts, secret commissions, and any arrangement that compromises neutrality. Confidentiality covers the content of acts and client information, subject to statutory disclosure and inspection. Diligence requires verifying facts a reasonable notary would check; integrity forbids false statements, misleading certifications, and participation in sham transactions.
Traps: believing confidentiality survives a court order; assuming a notary may act as advocate for one party in the same transaction; and treating a minor procedural shortcut as harmless when it affects authenticity. Questions often test the duty to report suspected forgery or money laundering, and the boundary between advising parties and representing one of them.
Rule of thumb: ask whether an independent observer would see the notary as neutral. Worked example: a client offers a fee to attest a document without the seller present. The notary must refuse; presence and identity verification cannot be waived for payment, and accepting the fee would aggravate the misconduct.
Study the consequences of breach: disciplinary sanctions, civil liability for loss caused by negligence, and criminal liability where the notary knowingly certifies a falsehood. Also understand advertising restrictions and the duty to keep professional indemnity where required.