I think you may be right, Janet. But I think a lot of it is pieced together through various rules.
For example:
§ 8205. Duties
(a) It is the duty of a notary public, when requested: [...]
We also have wording in the handbook a couple of times that indicates we just can't do things that are specifically against the law.
That's basically telling us if somebody comes to us with a legal request, it's our duty to honor their request, and by taking the oath and having the commission, we agree to it. Obviously, we aren't going to be expected to honor requests outside of our own regular business practices, but beyond that, we can't just refuse to notarize somebody's signature if they otherwise have everything in order.
The only exception that is spelled out for us right now is this:
§ 8202.8. Private employers; limitation on provision of notarial services
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a private employer of a notary public who has entered into an agreement with his or her employee pursuant to Section 8202.7 may limit, during the employee’s ordinary course of employment, the providing of notarial services by the employee solely to transactions directly associated with the business purposes of the employer.
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