other obstruction, for any purpose or purposes whatsoever, in Lake Pontchartrain, within a mile of the point where the New Basin Canal empties into, enters, or lets out, into the said lake, without the consent of the Board of Control of the New Basin Canal and Shell Road, evidenced by resolution, which resolution shall be approved by the Governor of the State.

Penalty.

5162. [Sec. 2.] Any person who shall do any of the acts declared by the first section of this act to be unlawful, if done without the authority therein described, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined a sum not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars ($250.00), or imprisoned for a period not more than three (3) months.

Board of Control May Remove Obstructions.

5163. [Sec. 3.] The Board of Control shall be authorized, at once, without notice of any kind, to remove or have removed, any piling, wharf, breakwater, pier, or other woodwork or earthwork, or any post or posts, or other obstruction, erected, constructed or placed in Lake Pontchartrain, in violation of Section One of this Act.

NOTARIES PUBLIC AND PUBLIC ACTS.

Appointment.

WHOLE STATE.

5164. [R. S. 2491.] The Governor of this State is hereby authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as many notaries public in the different parishes of the State, as may be deemed necessary.

Number of Notaries in parish of Orleans limited to 175 by Act 187, 1902, p. 367.

Notaries are public officers and no license tax can be imposed upon them, City vs. Bienvenue, 23 A. 710.

Powers.

5165. [R. S. 2492.] Notaries public shall have power, within their several parishes, to make inventories, appraisements, partitions, to receive wills, make protests, matrimonial contracts, conveyances, and generally all contracts and instruments of writing; to hold family meetings and meetings of cred

itors; to receive acknowledgments of instruments under private signature; to affix the seals upon the effects of deceased persons, and to raise the same; and all acts executed by them, in conformity with the provisions of Article 2234 of the Revised Civil Code shall be authentic acts.

Notaries have other powers, covered by their bond, besides those stated in this section, Stork vs. Surety Co., 109 La. 713.

Powers.

5166. [Act 7, 1877, p. 10.]

Oaths and acknowledgments,

in all cases, may be taken or made by or before any Notary Public duly appointed and qualified in this State.

Acts to Be Passed in Office.

5167. [R. S. 2494.] All notarial acts shall be made and executed in the office of the notary, unless where the illness of the party, or some other sufficient cause shall prevent him from attending in such office.

Must Recite Marital Status.

5168. [R. S. 2495.] Whenever they shall pass any acts they shall be bound to give the marital status of all parties to the act, viz.:

If either or any party or parties are men, they shall be described as single, married or widower. If married or widower, the Christian and family name of wife shall be given. If either or any party or parties are women, they shall be described as single, married or widow. If married or widow, their Christian and family name shall be given, adding that she is the wife or widow of ... the husband's name. (Amd. Act 122, 1908,

p. 179.)

Christian Names to Be Recited in Acts.

5169. [R. S. 2496.] They shall insert in their acts the Christian names of the parties in full, and not with their initial letters alone.

Penalty.

5170. [R. S. 2497.] All notaries, or other persons acting as such, contravening the provisions of the two preceding sections, shall be liable to a fine of one hundred dollars, to be recovered before any court of competent jurisdiction, one-half for the benefit of the informer.

Refusal of Certificates by Register.

5171. [R. S. 2498.] Registers of mortgages shall be bound to refuse their certificates to persons whose Chritsian or first names shall not be stated, or whose Christian or first names shall be designated by the initial letters alone.

Leave of Absence.

5172. [R. S. 2500.] The Governor shall be authorized to grant leave of absence to notaries public for a period not exceeding eight months, to date from the day of the permission granted by the Governor.

Notaries public thus permitted to absent themselves shall be required to name and designate another notary public to represent them during their absence.

Bond, Orleans Excepted.

5173. [R. S. 2503.] [The parish of Orleans excepted,] any male citizen of the State may be appointed a notary public in and for the parish in which he resides, upon giving bond, with good and solvent security, in the sum of one thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of all duties required by law toward all persons who may employ him in his profession of notary; and after being examined by any judge of the Supreme Court, Circuit or District Court of the State, and after having received a certificate of having been found competent on such examination, to exercise the profession of notary public. (Amd. Act 40, 1886, p. 53, and Act 42, 1890, p. 34.)

De facto Notary, Davenport vs. Davenport, 116 La. 1009.

Liability of Notary's surety, Stork vs. Surety Co., 109 La. 713; Wenck vs. Woulfe, 40 A. 46; Sucn. Vollmer, 40 A. 593; Rochereau vs. Jones, 29 A. 82.

This section not applicable to liability of New Orleans notaries, Weintz vs. Kramer, 44 A. 37.

Surety not responsible for act not within notarial duties, Schmitt vs. Drouet, 42 A. 1066; Lescouzeve vs. Ducatel, 18 A. 470; Monrose vs. Brocard, 20 A. 78.

Filing Bond.

5174. [R. S. 2504.] [R. S. 2504.] Said bond shall be executed before the clerk by any of the district courts, and, with the certificate of examination by any judge of the Supreme Court, district or parish courts of the State, be filed with the Auditor of Public Accounts.

A failure to file the bond with the Auditor, may be ground for suspension, but it does not ipso facto vacate the office of the notary, Monroe vs. Administrator, 47 An. 155.

Renewal of Bond; Suspension From Office.

5175. [R. S. 2505.] All notaries shall renew their bonds every five years; and may be suspended by any judge of the Supreme Court or district courts of the State for failure to pay over money entrusted to them in their professional character, for failure to satisfy any final judgment rendered against them in such capacity, or for other just causes.

State vs. Laresche, 28 A. 26.

Continued in Office.

5176. [R. S. 2506.] All notaries now exercising functions as such, as well as those to be qualified under the provisions hereof, are authorized, and shall continue, to act as such so long as they shall renew their bonds, unless suspended by the Supreme Court.

Recordation of Legal Mortgages.

5177. [R. S. 2512.] And it shall likewise be the duty of notaries public and other officers performing their duties, to cause marriage contracts and other acts which are executed before them, and from which any legal mortgage is derived in favor of a married woman, on the property of her husband, to be recorded in the same manner as aforesaid.

Penalty.

5178. [R. S. 2513.] The judges, clerks and notaries who shall fail to cause the legal mortgages which exist in favor of minors, interdicted, or absent persons, or in favor of married women, to be recorded as herein provided for, shall be liable in damages towards any person who shall suffer thereby, and shall be subject to be removed from office.

Dispensing With Mortgage Certificate.

5179. [R. S. 2514.] The parties to a notarial act may, by written clause in the act, dispense with the certificate of mortgage required by Article 3364 of the Revised Civil Code, and the notary or parish recorder shall not in such case be entitled to charge for such certificate.

Evidence of Payment of Taxes Must Be Annexed to Act Conveying Real Estate.

5180. [Sec. 74, Act 170, 1898, p. 379.] Neither recorders, sheriffs, notaries throughout the State, nor other persons authorized to convey real estate, by public act shall pass or execute any

act, or take any acknowledgement to any act under private signature, for the sale, transfer, donation, partition, exchange or other conveyance of any real estate, unless the State, levee, district, parish and municipal taxes due on the same prior to the act be first paid, to be shown by the receipt or certificate of the officer having charge of the collection of said taxes or by the certificate of the State auditor, city comptroller or other officer having charge of or keeping the accounts of any municipal corporation or parish of this State, said certificates to be annexed to such act and be conclusive evidence of the payment of all taxes therein certified to be paid, and shall exonerate the notary, sheriff or recorder from all responsibility whatever.

Act 88, 1888, p. 148, and R. S. 2519 require only receipts for three years next preceding, and under Con. 186 tax privileges are prescribed by three years.

Parties to the sale cannot dispense with the production of evidence of the payment of taxes, Land Co. vs. Sholars, 105 La. 357; yet the law does not prohibit the introduction in evidence of such act of conveyance, Land Co. vs. Wade, 51 A. 251.

Penalty.

5181. [Sec. 75.] Any notary public or recorder violating the foregoing act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and the act offered in evidence shall be prima facie evidence of guilt. The district attorney on the offense being made known to him shall proceed against such officer by indictment or information, and on conviction such officer shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200.00).

This section repeals R. S. 2520, so far as notaries and recorders are concerned.

Must Keep Protest Book.

5182. [R. S. 325.] Notaries and parish recorders shall keep a separate book, in which they shall transcribe and record, by order of date, all the protests by them made, with mention made of the notices which they shall have given of the same to the drawers or indorsers thereof, together with the names of the drawers or indorsers, the date of the notices, and the manner in which they were served or forwarded, which declaration, duly recorded under the signature of the notary public or parish recorder and two witnesses, shall be considered and received in all courts of this State as a legal proof of the notices.

For recitals of protest and notice to be given by Notary, see 436, 437, 438, pp. 147, 148, under Bills and Promissory Notes.