Notes from Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy course Advanced Hispanic Research,
Salt Lake City, January 2020
·
A notario, or notary, functions much like a contract
lawyer, creating legally binding “authentic acts” (also called contracts or
protocols), that regulate private relationships among individuals.
·
Notarios represented both parties and used standard form books.
·
Spanish law (and hence Latin America), required a notary in every
town, dating back to the 13th century.
·
Notarial documents of interest to genealogists include marriage
contracts, death inventories/estate settlements, and property sales/transfers.
·
How to find records in the archive
o Books are generally
organized chronologically under under the notary’s name
o you will need to know the
name of the notary (find this in death records), the town in which he served,
the years in which he served; generally, a family continued to use the same
notary
o with this info you can
request the legajo
·
Possible locations of notarial records:
o provincial archives
o district archives
o municipal archives
o ecclesiastical or government
archives
o if not at archives, try
local notary colegio, especially if records are more recent
o local libraries or notarial
offices
o Records under 25 years old
may be with notary; records 25 to 100 years old may be at notarial college;
records more than 100 years old may be at an archive
·
Women could own property in Spanish countries and had significant
testamentary power. They often left specific bequests to female family members
and friends.
·
Use these terms in a Keyword search for notarial records: protocolos,
registros, notariales, notaria, testamentos
JO
