New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 17 - TREASURY - GENERAL
Chapter 50 - NOTARY PUBLIC RULES
Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 17:50-1.2 - Definitions
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Acknowledgment" means a declaration by an individual before a notarial officer that the individual has signed a record for the purpose stated in the record and, if the record is signed in a representative capacity, that the individual signed the record with proper authority and signed it as the act of the individual or entity identified in the record.
"Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
"Electronic signature" means an electronic symbol, sound, or process attached to, or logically associated with, a record and executed or adopted by an individual with the intent to sign the record.
"In a representative capacity" means acting as:
1. An authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee, or other representative for a person other than an individual;
2. A public officer, personal representative, guardian, or other representative, in the capacity stated in a record;
3. An agent or attorney-in-fact for a principal; or
4. An authorized representative of another in any other capacity.
"Non-attorney applicant" means an applicant for an initial or renewal commission as a notary public who is not also a licensed attorney-at-law in this State.
"Notarial act" means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under the laws of New Jersey. The term includes:
1. Taking an acknowledgement;
2. Administering an oath or affirmation;
3. Taking a verification on oath or affirmation;
4. Witnessing or attesting a signature;
5. Certifying or attesting a copy or deposition; and
6. Noting a protest of a negotiable instrument.
"Notarial journal" means a compendium of each notarial act performed by a notary public and should include the:
1. Date and time of the notarial act;
2. Type of notarization;
3. Date of document notarized;
4. Type of document;
5. Identification provided as proof of identity;
6. Document signer's printed name;
7. Document signer's address;
8. Document signer's signature; and
9. Any other relevant information related to the notarial act.
"Notarial officer" means a notary public or other individual authorized by law to perform a notarial act.
"Notary public" means an individual commissioned by the State Treasurer to perform a notarial act.
"Official stamp" means a physical image affixed to or embossed on a tangible record or an electronic image attached to, or logically associated with, an electronic record.
"Person" has the meaning ascribed to it at N.J.S.A. 1:1-2.
"Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
"Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record to:
1. Execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
2. Attach to, or logically associate with, the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.
"Signature" means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record.
"Stamping device" means:
1. A physical device capable of affixing to, or embossing, on a tangible record an official stamp; or
2. An electronic device or process capable of attaching to, or logically associating with, an electronic record an official stamp.
"Verification on oath or affirmation" means a declaration, made by an individual on oath or affirmation before a notarial officer, that a statement in a record is true.
