2021 New Jersey Revised Statutes
Title 52 - State Government, Departments and Officers
Section 52:7-10.1 - Definitions.
52:7-10.1 Definitions.
2. Definitions.
As used in P.L.2021, c.179 (C.52:7-10.1 et al.):
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. "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.
e. "Non-attorney applicant" means an applicant for an initial or renewal commission as a notary public who is not also a licensed attorney-at-law in this State.
f. "Notarial act" means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under the laws of New Jersey. The term includes:
(1) taking an acknowledgment,
(2) administering an oath or affirmation,
(3) taking a verification on oath or affirmation,
(4) witnessing or attesting a signature,
(5) certifying or attesting a copy or deposition, and
(6) noting a protest of a negotiable instrument.
g. "Notarial officer" means a notary public or other individual authorized by law to perform a notarial act.
h. "Notary public" means an individual commissioned by the State Treasurer to perform a notarial act.
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.
j. "Person" has the meaning ascribed to it in R.S.1:1-2.
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" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:
(1) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(2) To 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.
o. "State" means the State of New Jersey; "other state" or "another state" means any state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and any other insular possession or territory of the United States other than the State of New Jersey.
p. "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.
L.2021, c.179, s.2.
