Posted by Anonymous on 11/17/03 7:21pm
Msg #259

When your state is a commonwealth

When you fill in venue on your notary certificates do you write

State of _______________________ or

Commonwealth of _________________________ ?

Reply by Tina_MA on 11/17/03 11:18pm
Msg #261

Message # 259 of 260 Posted on 11/17/2003 7:21:00 PM

"When your state is a commonwealth By Anonymous

When you fill in venue on your notary certificates do you write
State of _______________________ or
Commonwealth of _________________________ ?"

There are fifty states.....the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is one of them. I just use State of Massachusetts as do most of the Notaries I know in our "Commonwealth".

However, your question intrigued me, so I referenced the handy-dandy pamphlet I was given when I became a Notary (as our esteemed Commonwealth does not have a proper notary handbook) and it states:

"Massachusetts notaries public are authorized to act only within the confines of the Commonwealth; therefore, it is imperative this this be complete properly. The statement of venue should read as follows:
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
(county), ss."

Soooo, we've all been completing the venue incorrectly.

Reply by Carolanne Wendland on 11/18/03 6:34am
Msg #262

There are four States that are Commonwealths. They are Massachusetts, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Washington D.C. is a Commonwealth that is considered to be a Territory.

In Pennsylvania, our pamphlet has a limited amount of information as well. In this pamphlet the certificates are worded "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania". However, I have seen them both ways.

Reply by Tina_MA on 11/18/03 11:06am
Msg #263

Re: When your state is a commonwealth
Posted by Carolanne Wendland on 11/18/03 6:34am

There are four States that are Commonwealths. They are Massachusetts,
Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Washington D.C. is a Commonwealth
that is considered to be a Territory.

In Pennsylvania, our pamphlet has a limited amount of information as well.
In this pamphlet the certificates are worded "Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania". However, I have seen them both ways.


Thanks for the trivia. ;-) I did not know there were other Commonwealths. It's funny how people never say "in our 46 states and 4 Commonwealths".

While using "Commonwealth of (state name)" is proper, I seriously doubt that using "State of (state name)" would ever be an issue in a court of law.

Reply by Barbs_MO on 11/18/03 2:01pm
Msg #265

Ironically I have lived in 2 of the four Commonwealths. I am really not sure what a Commonwealth is- except that the government gets our wealth!

Reply by wordsmith on 12/5/03 5:49pm
Msg #361

That's not irony, it's coincidence...