BearPaw/CO asked "How can Mass. do that?" Many times in this forum it's been mentioned that the US Constitution provides that the judicial acts of one state will be recognized by other states. What's often not mentioned is Congress has the authority to pass laws to determine how this will be accomplished. To the best of my knowledge, such laws have never been passed with respect to notarizations. So Mass. can do what they want until Congress makes them toe the line.
From a practical point of view, some folks in Mass. recognize it's not feasible for notaries in all 50 states, and the various territories and tribes, to learn about the details of Mass. requirements. So bills have been introduced in the Mass. legislature to make notarizations valid as long as they are carried out according to the law of the place where the notarial act was performed. I'm not sure if any of these bills are before the current session of the legislature. |
