41-251. Definitions

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Acknowledgment" means a declaration by an individual before a notarial officer that the individual has signed a record for the purpose stated in the record and, if the record is signed in a representative capacity, that the individual signed the record with proper authority and signed it as the act of the individual or entity identified in the record.

2. "Commission" means to authorize to perform notarial acts and the written authority to perform those acts.

3. "Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities.

4. "Electronic signature" means an electronic symbol, sound or process that is attached to or logically associated with a record and that is executed or adopted by an individual with the intent to sign the record.

5. "In a representative capacity" means acting as any of the following:

(a) An authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee or other representative for a person other than an individual.

(b) A public officer, personal representative, guardian or other representative, in the capacity stated in a record.

(c) An agent or attorney-in-fact for a principal.

(d) An authorized representative of another in any other capacity.

6. "Notarial act" or "notarization":

(a) Means any act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under section 41-252.

(b) Includes taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy and noting a protest of a negotiable instrument.

7. "Notarial officer" means a notary public or other individual who is authorized to perform a notarial act.

8. "Notary public" or "notary" means any individual who is commissioned to perform notarial acts by the secretary of state.

9. "Official stamp" means a physical image that is affixed to a tangible record or an electronic image that is attached to or logically associated with an electronic record.

10. "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, statutory trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity.

11. "Record" means information that is either:

(a) Inscribed on a tangible medium.

(b) Stored in an electronic or other medium and that is retrievable in perceivable form.

12. "Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record, either of the following:

(a) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol.

(b) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound or process.

13. "Signature" means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record.

14. "Stamping device" means either of the following:

(a) A physical device that is capable of affixing to a tangible record an official stamp.

(b) An electronic device or process that is capable of attaching to or logically associating with an electronic record an official stamp.

15. "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

16. "Verification on oath or affirmation" means a declaration, made by an individual on oath or affirmation before a notarial officer, that a statement in a record is true.