Depending on the country, civil law notaries are generally a protected profession to protect some of the interests of the state. They are civil servants but run

Depending on the country, civil law notaries are generally a protected profession to protect some of the interests of the state. They are civil servants but run their own private practices. Quite an interesting profession, actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_notary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law_notary