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Comparative and Foreign Law

Selected Works

Pedro A. Malavet

International Property Transactions

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Foreign Notarial Legal Services Monopoly: Why Should We Care?, Pedro A. Malavet Dec 1997

The Foreign Notarial Legal Services Monopoly: Why Should We Care?, Pedro A. Malavet

Pedro A. Malavet

This piece serves three purposes: (1) briefly to take issue with the current treatment of comparative scholarship, especially how it is ignored by main law reviews; (2) to be a succinct introduction to the Latin Notary; and (3) to point out that the adversarial ethic and notarial impartiality can co-exist and even complement one another. It presents the notary as an example of a non-adversarial ethic, in a system that has other professionals who are ruled by the adversarial ethic. It does not advocate the abandonment of the adversarial ethic, but, rather, argues that in certain legal situations a non-adversarial …


The Non-Adversarial, Extra-Judicial Search For Legality And Truth: Foreign Notarial Transactions As An Inexpensive And Reliable Model For A Market-Driven System Of Informed Contracting And Fact-Determination, Pedro A. Malavet Dec 1996

The Non-Adversarial, Extra-Judicial Search For Legality And Truth: Foreign Notarial Transactions As An Inexpensive And Reliable Model For A Market-Driven System Of Informed Contracting And Fact-Determination, Pedro A. Malavet

Pedro A. Malavet

Notarial transactions are specialized contracts, which in most of the world are written and certified by a legal professional known as a notary, who obviously is not the U.S. notary public. These, in effect, lawyers, practice a liberal profession so endowed of the public trust that they are expressly made alternatives to judicial proceedings. Hence, the notarial form is an extra-judicial certification of legality and truth, often comparable to our court judgments. This system guarantees honesty and legality while avoiding or resolving disputes, at a very low cost, when compared to American law practice and certainly when compared to litigation.