Practice reading of the given words. Pay attention to the pronunciation of the sound / /.

authority / /

authorized / /

authenticity / /

authenticate / /

oath of allegiance/ /

TEXT1

Read the text to understand what information on notary bodies of Ukraine is of primary importance or new for you.

документа, законопроекту

shorthand (writer) стенографіст

draught (draft) of will проект заповіту

conveyance передача (майна)

NOTARY BODIES OF UKRAINE

Notes: draughtsman (=draftsman) автор

The origin of the term “notarius” traces back to the Roman law, where it meant a draughtsman, a shorthand writer, who took notes of the proceedings in the Senate or a court, prepared draughts of wills, conveyances, etc.

The role of the notary in civil law countries is much greater than in common law countries. The most typical areas of practice for civil law notaries are in property conveyance and registration, contract drafting, commercial transactions, successions and other estate related matters. They usually have no authority to appear before courts on behalf of their clients; their role is limited to drafting, authenticating, and archiving certain types of important transactional documents.

The notary service board (notariate) in Ukraine is the system of notary bodies and officials whose functions are to certify rights and facts of legal significance and to perform other notarial acts provided for by the law in order to give them legal authenticity.

Notarial acts in Ukraine are committed by the public notaries, working in the state notary offices and the record offices ( archives), and private notaries. The documents drawn up by the public and private notaries have identical legal force. The only difference between them is that fees for services charged by public notaries are regulated and set by the state. Fees paid to private notaries are not regulated and are set by private notaries themselves.

The notarial acts may also be exercised by the authorized public officials of the executive committees in the local councils, consulates or diplomatic representative offices of Ukraine.

Notaries are not allowed by law to work in courts, police, and prosecutor’s office and represent people in courts or any other government offices.

Notaries of Ukraine are empowered to discharge their professional duties in strict conformity with the law and the oath of allegiance, to provide legal aid to citizens, enterprises, public organizations in realization of their rights and in the defence of their legal interests, to explain their rights and duties, to warn them about the consequences of their notarial acts.

The public notaries are authorized to perform the following notarial acts:

1) to attest contracts, wills, transactions, deeds, marriage contracts, powers of attorney, etc;

2) to verify copies of documents, to authenticate signatures, translations of documents;

3) to certify hereditary rights, deeds of purchase-and-sale, conveyance of property, gifts;

4) to certify the fact that a citizen is alive;

5) to certify the fact that a citizen stays in a certain place;

6) to certify the identity of a citizen and the person on the photo;

7) to perform certain official acts, especially in commercial matters, such as protesting notes and bills;

8) to prepare marine protests.

Every notarized document (agreement, contract, certificate) is issued on numerated, special paper form, protected by security features and is registered in the notary book which is kept after completion in regional record office for good.

 

II. COMPREHENSION

1. A. Give the definitions for the following terms and expressions or explain in other words:

8. oath of allegiance

9. record notary office

10. will

11. power of attorney

12. succession

B. Answer the following questions using the information from the text:

1. What is the origin of the word “notarius”?

2. What are the main functions of a civil law notary?

3. What are the main tasks of the Notary Service Board of Ukraine?

4. Who can perform notarial acts in Ukraine?

5. Is there any difference between public and private notaries?

6. What activity is not allowed to a notary?

7. What notarial acts is a public notary authorized to perform?

8. What documents does a notary verify?

9. What facts does a notary certify?

10. Would you like to become a notary? Give your own reasons.

2. Complete the following sentences according to the information from the text:

1. The role of a civil law notary is …

2. The civil law notary has authority to …

3. The Notariate in Ukraine is the system …

4. Notarial acts are performed by …

5. Notaries of Ukraine are …

6. Public notaries are empowered to …

7. The documents prepared by a notary are …

 

3. Scan the text to find legal terms which correspond to the following explanations:

1) an official act of a notary;

2) a written legal declaration of the manner in which smb. would have his/her property disposed of after his/her death;

3) a contract involving the sale of goods or a similar contract of transfer;

4) a voluntary transfer or grant of property;

5) a written document that is signed, sealed and delivered.

III. VOCABULARY STUDY

Find synonyms in the following group of words. Try to explain the difference in their meaning, give your own examples.

Will, to verify, deed, to empower, to exercise, to certify, to use, transaction, testament, court, to perform, to employ, to authorize, trial, to attest, contract, document, agreement, to authenticate.

In each of the following sets of four, one word or expression is the odd one out: different from the others. Find the word that is different, explain your choice.

1. judge – prosecutor – notary – defence lawyer;

2. attest – verify – supervise – certify;

3. state notary’s office – record office – diplomatic representative office – prosecutor’s office;

4. conveyance of property – hereditary right – purchase-and-sale – civil offence;

5. fingerprint – signature – seal – stamp;

6. power of attorney – transaction – indictment – marriage contract;

7. deed – activity – document – certificate.

Choose the right preposition in brackets according to the contents of the sentences (with, up, of, at, in).

1. The notaries and other public officials who perform notarial acts ensure that the certified deed is exercised … strict conformity … the law.

2. Power … attorney should be notarially certified.

3. Notariate is the system of notary bodies that perform notarial acts directed … certifying indisputable rights and facts.

4.The documents drawn … by a notary are considered to be authentic.

Complete the sentences with the words of the active vocabulary.

1. A… is something that you present to somebody.

2. A … is the drafting of the documents necessary for the transfer of real property.

3. Notaries prepare…

4. … are opened and liquidated by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

5. … are performed in the apartment of the state notary’s office, the record notary’s office, the apartment which is the workplace of the private notary or the apartment of the local executive committee.

6. … which have corrections or written in pencil are not adopted for accomplishing notarial actions.

Substitute the words in italics with the words from the active vocabulary.

1. In many countries, only lawyers have the legal authority to do drafting of wills, trusts, and any other documents that ensure the efficient disposition of a person’s property after death.

2. The notaries perform testaments of the competent citizens drawn up in strict conformity with the law.

3. While certifying notarial actsthe notaries check if the contents of a certified deed correspond to the legislation.

4. The notary has certified the document giving me the right to drive my father’s car.

5. The public notary certifying the right of inheritance checks the fact of the death first.

6. If a private notary is going to stop accomplishing his duties for a term more than a week he is obliged to inform the Ministry of Justice.

There are some words in the text the pronunciation of which depends upon the part of speech they denote. Read the following sentences and decide in each case if the word in italics is a verb or a noun. Then decide which stress pattern it has.

Remember! The first syllable is stressed if the word is a noun, the second syllable is stressed if the word is a verb.

a. It’s important to record everything the prisoner says during interrogation.

We keep a record of sales from day to day on the computer.

b. I don`t dispute your claim to the estate.

I believe there is a dispute between my client and yours.

3. I am sure they will convict him.

You must have known he was a convict.

4. The two parties will conduct negotiations next week.

She divorced him because of his unreasonable conduct.

5. The main suspect in murder is the husband.

We suspect that the robbery was carried out by someone inside

the company.