Indonesian notary are officials and specialized counselor appointed by the government who act as an impartial witness in the signing of documents in order to make them legally valid.
Their expertise must include: corporate law, loans and morgages, family law, etc.
In the recent years they also achieved an important role in the field of international private law.
The notary as existing in Indonesia belongs to the “latin (Roman) notarial system.”
The “latin notary” system is largely spread around the world, adopted by approximately 71 countries, mostly belonging to the civil law system.
Although the same word “public notary” is used within the “common law” legal systems, it must be underlined very clearly from the beginning that the concept behind the word in the civil law system and in the common law system is totally different.
When the words “Latin Notary” are used, it is necessary to forget every notion that links it to the anglo American “public notary”.
The “latin notary” finds his origin within the Roman culture;
They were Emperor clerks who did the writing for the emperor; then there were the tabelliones, who did draft the deeds among private subjects, to give them legal form and strength.
From the VIII century the notary deeds were given the same execution strength of a judicial sentence. And from the XI century (year 1000) the notary deed was given a privileged “public faith”, a particular strength.
In this period the notary was equalized to the knight and to the judge within the noble professions.
The roots of the modern latin notary system, however, are to be found in the values of humanism, of the search of justice and protection of the weakest subjects.
Through this systems, by using the notaries as qualified legal professionals, the State wants to guarantee certainty in the legal trading and commercial exchanges and protection individuals.
The Latin Notary is present in most Europeran Countries including the Africa, South America and the Far East (Japan, China, Indonesia etc), while some common law countries, such as Malta and Maurice Island also use the latin notary system.
Indonesia distributes 19.000 notaries into 38 provinces.
As public officer notary in Indonesia operates in every area lf law and is empowered by the Indonesian government to draft or authenticate documents, agreements or contracts.
Unlike a laywer representing the interests of a lient, a notary places neutrality and fidelity to the law above all.
As officers vested with the rights of official authority by the state, the notary act as a guarantee of legality and authenticity to all functions overseen by them.
Due to the differences that exist between Indonesian notaries and their common law counterparts, foreigner may experience confusion about the nature of a notary.
In the common law country such as United States, notaries possess none of the legal powers enjoyed by those in Indonesia. Instead, American notaries only have the power to administer oaths, take affidavits,declarations or depositions from witnesses, acknowledge and attest signature and certify copies.
Because of the limited role, American notaries are often employed in different capacities (lawyer, court, reporter, etc).
Indonesian notaries, by contrast, are highly-trained, licensed practitioners who provide a range of regulated services and are generally, despite their public position, in private practice.
Infact, becoming notary in Indonesia is a difficult endeavor.
After receiving a law degree, aspiring notaries spend years in practical training before taking the state exam. Consequently, there are fewer than 19.000 notaries currently working in Indonesia (compared to the nearly 60.000 lawyers)
Not all notaries are holding position as land officer at the same time.
Some notaries has different license to practice in the special field, such as Syariah bank, koperasi (cooperation form), listed company, auction and some institutions has their own notary partner (banks, real estate etc) .