The Notariat Across Borders

Organizers

Fiona Kay, Jan Kober, Manon Ferrand

The notarial profession is a highly fragmented one. Despite notaries across different countries having shared historical origins and many commonalities in the functions they fulfill, the realities of their legal work differ in many respects, depending on the jurisdiction in which notaries practice their trade. Although notaries figure among the best-paid legal professionals in some countries; in other countries, they have considerably less prestige, enjoy lower levels of protection, face considerable challenges. The IRC aims at filling the current gap observable with respect to data and comparative studies on notaries. The IRC’s project will resort to a transversal approach, combining both interdisciplinary and international perspectives, with a view to exploring diverse questions pertaining to the state, role, evolution and future of the notarial profession, including the demographic characteristics and work conditions of notaries, the nature of their work, the relations between the profession, the State and other segments of the legal profession. The factors accounting for the differences between the different countries will also be examined.