2020 Georgia Code
Title 45 - Public Officers and Employees
Chapter 17 - Notaries Public
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 45-17-5. Term of Office; Revocation; Renewal of Commission; Issuance of Certificates of Appointment; Record of Appointments; Misrepresentation as Notary

1. Each notary public shall hold office for four years, subject to revocation at any time by the clerk of the superior court, at the end of which time, on petition, his commission may be renewed by order of the clerk for a like term. Renewal of a notary public commission may be done in person or by mail at the discretion of the clerk of superior court. The clerk of the superior court shall issue to each notary public a certificate of his appointment and qualifications, which certificate shall contain the name, address, age, and sex of the appointee, the date the certificate was issued, and the term for which the appointment runs. The clerk shall also keep a record of the names, addresses, signatures, ages, sex, and the terms of all notaries public whom he appoints.
2. At the time the clerk of the superior court issues a certificate of appointment as provided in subsection (a) of this Code section, said officer shall also issue to the appointee a duplicate original of such certificate. The presentation of such duplicate original, either by mail or in person, to the supplier of a notary public seal shall be necessary to authorize such supplier to make up a notary public seal and deliver it to the appointee.
3. It shall be unlawful for any person to hold himself or herself out as a notary public or to exercise the powers of a notary public unless such person has an unexpired commission as a notary public.

(Laws 1824, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 210; Code 1863, § 1448; Ga. L. 1868, p. 130, § 2; Code 1868, § 1505; Code 1873, § 1499; Code 1882, § 1499; Civil Code 1895, § 500; Civil Code 1910, § 618; Code 1933, § 71-104; Ga. L. 1947, p. 1108, § 1; Ga. L. 1949, p. 1940, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 1106, § 1; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 34; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1105, § 1.)

- Ga. L. 1982, p. 1106, § 2, not codified by the General Assembly, provided as follows: "This Act shall not invalidate any notary public seal lawfully issued and possessed prior to the effective date of this Act [November 1, 1982]."

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Holds over until successor appointed.

- Notaries public are public officers, whose duties, oaths and powers are prescribed by law. They are appointed for four years, but upon the expiration of that time, a notary and the notary's office do not cease, but the notary continues to hold that position until a successor is appointed, or until the notary is removed. Smith & Bondurant v. Meador, 74 Ga. 416, 58 Am. R. 438 (1885).

- If, after the expiration of the term for which a notary was appointed and before that fact was discovered, the notary attested an affidavit, both parties acting in good faith, if not an officer de jure, the notary would, in such transaction, be an officer de facto, and the attestation would not be void. Smith & Bondurant v. Meador, 74 Ga. 416, 58 Am. R. 438 (1885).

Cited in Stoudemire v. HSBC Bank USA, N.A., 333 Ga. App. 374, 776 S.E.2d 483 (2015), cert. denied, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 280 (Ga. 2016).

Usually a notary public may be classified as a public official. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-309.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Notary public as an officer, 79 A.L.R. 449.