Historical and legal analysis of a notary’s legal responsibility

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the research of historical and legal analysis of a notary’s legal responsibility. The attention is paid to the fact that during the whole history of state and legislation development the notariat has been an integral part of any country’s legal system, as its functions have been necessary and of demand by the community. It has been determined that some notary functions were performed in ancient civilizations, however the closest to the modern one was the pattern of notariat formed in ancient Rome that was borrowed by many countries including Ukraine. The current stage of Ukrainian legal system development is characterized by substantial enhancement of the notariat role and significance stipulated by the new economic relationships, immersion of private ownership of means of production and land. Particularly this is true in relation to the entrepreneurship connected with fixation and registration of contracts, establishing various forms of ownership and related agreements. In the legal science there are various definitions of the notion of legal liability. Most domestic scholars reflect one sign of responsibility: as State measures of coercion; as the duty of the person eхpоsed tо adverse effects and experience of forced deprivation of certain values; measure of impact on the offender; as the legal relationship between the State and the offender. Based upon the study it has been noted that the concept of notary’s legal responsibility can be characterized by the three attributes: state constraint, existence of violation of law and its subject, availability of favourable effects for the offender. The ground for legal responsibility is a violation of law where its offense is of particular importance, i.e. all the elements are available (object, subject, objective side, subjective side) and act as a whole. So there is the need in further detailed regulation of notary acts, improving notaries’ qualifications and responsibility including taking measures of criminal, administrative, civil and disciplinary character. Upon this background the reforms in the legal system and systematization of national legislation on notariat should be performed not only through reception of international experience but taking into account historical, national and cultural peculiarities as well.