2022 Georgia Code
Title 45 - Public Officers and Employees
Chapter 17 - Notaries Public
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 45-17-6. Seal of Office

1. 1. For the authentication of his notarial acts each notary public must provide a seal of office, which seal shall have for its impression his name, the words “Notary Public,” the name of the state, and the county of his residence; or it shall have for its impression his name and the words “Notary Public, Georgia, State at Large.” Notaries commissioned or renewing their commission after July 1, 1985, shall provide a seal of office which shall have for its impression the notary’s name, the words “Notary Public,” the name of the state, and the county of his appointment. The embossment of notarial certificates by the notary’s seal shall be authorized but not necessary, and the use of a rubber or other type stamp shall be sufficient for imprinting the notary’s seal. A scrawl shall not be a sufficient notary seal. An official notarial act must be documented by the notary’s seal.
   2. No document executed prior to July 1, 1986, which would otherwise be eligible for recording in the real property records maintained by any clerk of superior court or constitute record notice or actual notice of any matter to any person shall be ineligible for recording or fail to constitute such notice because of noncompliance with the requirement that the document contain a notary seal.
2. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to supply a notary public seal to any person unless the person has presented the duplicate original of the certificate commissioning the person as a notary public. It shall be unlawful for any person to order or obtain a notary public seal unless such person is commissioned as a notary public.

History. Ga. L. 1863-64, p. 58, § 3; Code 1863, § 1452; Code 1868, § 1509; Code 1873, § 1503; Code 1882, § 1503; Civil Code 1895, § 505; Civil Code 1910, § 623; Code 1933, § 71-107; Ga. L. 1947, p. 1108, § 1; Ga. L. 1949, p. 1940, § 3; Ga. L. 1952, p. 456, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 1106, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1105, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1469, § 5; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1446, § 4.

Cross references.

Requirement of seal for notary’s attestation of deeds executed outside state, § 44-2-21 .

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 1952, p. 456, § 2, provides that all deeds executed after the passage of the Act approved February 25, 1949 (Ga. L. 1949, p. 940) are declared to be valid, if executed as otherwise required by law even though the same do not have the seal of the notary thereon.

Ga. L. 1986, p. 1446, § 10, not codified by the General Assembly, provided: “This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor [approved April 11, 1986] or upon its becoming law without such approval. It is expressly declared that the curative provisions of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 45-17-6 and of subsection (c) of Code Section 45-17-8.1, as enacted by this Act, are intended to have retroactive application except to the extent that such retroactive application would unconstitutionally impair any vested right.”

Law reviews.

For article surveying real property law in 1984-1985, see 37 Mercer L. Rev. 343 (1985).

For annual survey on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 67 Mercer L. Rev. 273 (2015).