In addition to the general definitions provided in Section 12-2A-3 of the Uniform Statute and Rule Construction Act, as used in the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts:
A. “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;
B. “electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities;
C. “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;
D. “foreign state” means a government other than the United States, a state or a federally recognized Indian tribe;
E. “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;
F. “notarial act” means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under the law of this state. The term includes taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy and noting a protest of a negotiable instrument;
G. “notarial officer” means a notary public or other individual authorized to perform a notarial act;
H. “notary public” means an individual commissioned to perform a notarial act by the secretary of state;
I. “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 and includes an official notary seal;
J. “person” also includes a statutory trust, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality;
K. “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;
L. “sign” or “subscribe”, when used with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record, means to:
(1) execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(2) attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound or process;
M. “signature” means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record;
N. “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; and
O. “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.
History: Laws 2021, ch. 21, § 2.
ANNOTATIONS
Effective dates. — Laws 2021, ch. 21, § 38 made Laws 2021, ch. 21, § 2 effective January 1, 2022.
Applicability. — Laws 2021, ch. 21, § 37 provided that the provisions of Laws 2021, ch. 21 apply to notarial acts performed in this state on and after January 1, 2022.