Back in 1998, I came into contact with a notary for the first time. I went to my brother and sister-in-law in Spain, so they sent me a famous letter of guarantee to get a visa. Instead of a dry document, an envelope of special yellowish paper arrived, something like a medieval papal bull with a graphic letterhead, calligraphy and language worthy of Cervantes. I noticed, despite my modest knowledge of Castilian, that the language of the document was unusual. When we finally traveled and got comfortable, the hosts interpreted and translated the guarantee letter, which, I found out, was written in the official language in the imperfect.
Translated into Serbian, it would read something like this:
The Honorable Chamber of Royal Notaries hereby guarantees that the noble (name of the notary) is a respected and recognized member [...] etc.
After this introduction, which was all over the page, my noble brother and sister-in-law guaranteed honor, criminally and materially that my wife and I would live in their white palaces for the period for which the honorable consulate issued us a visa.
All of them (except me and my wife) were respectable, noble, honorable, honest, and in the end, even the price of the service and the muhur of that gentleman looked like a doctor's degree.
Since in our country, by definition, any authority is viewed with suspicion, I was a little offended - because everything stank to me of the colonial and imperial spirit of Spain, of aristocracy and blue blood, privileges by birth in which I deeply do not believe.
I also had a problem with the packaging of the legal document, the expensive paper and Serdar's bragging about honor and honesty. As soon as honesty is emphasized, I wonder if it is for sale, and the document was not cheap, not even for subjects of the Spanish crown, and even less for Serbs under sanctions.
It was then that I realized for the first time how language can be a form of discrimination, because notaries' learning was shown by acrobatic medieval phrases that had no connection with modern language. According to this practice, today our notaries would write documents in Slavic-Serbian or Glagolitic - which could then become the official language of lawyers in the region. There were also Glagolitic speakers in the territory of today's Croatia and Bosnia - that's how notaries could correspond nicely. Branko ฤopiฤ would say: what a wonderful pattern with a goose feather!
Our media tried to introduce us to a new profession, completely clumsily and unsuccessfully, and to prove that we need notaries. It seems to me that with this decision, the legal system has admitted that it is completely ineffective even after countless epoch-making reforms. Not only will notaries, as private individuals, do the work of courts, but presidents of courts will be able to entrust some court cases to notaries. A third, a half or some other percentage. I saw a manual in the news, a bold book, about the powers of a notary, so I urgently need to get it and study it. On the first working day, the people dawned in front of the notary's door, thinking that they were working as well as the courts from the 7th and the 30th. Moลกa! The craziest thing is that in municipalities where there are no notaries, their work is still performed by the courts.
In short, a part of the judiciary was privatized, which was financed from the budget, and citizens will, allegedly, now pay less for notarization services. I was encouraged by the performance of one of our notaries, who warned citizens that this news does not mean that the certification will be faster, because the documentation check will be more detailed. Until today, you could certify the statement that the Earth is round in court, and now you will have to bring reliable evidence to the notary.
The list of notaries in Serbia shows that they are social beings because they often practice close to each other, like neighbors. This reminds us of our small business practice, that the bakery sprouts next to the bakery, and the betting shop next to the betting shop. Elaborate location!
The notaries, as I understood the honorable representatives, mostly certified honorable contracts on the transfer of noble real estate. More or less, the work in the court was reduced to waiting in line, stamping, signing the old book upside down like in elections and paying a hefty tribute to the state. The state, therefore, for the reason of its noble incompetence and the scumbags, which they euphemistically called "overflow of cases", gave up the income from notarization so that 93 noble notaries would have white bread to eat. But don't worry about the holes in the budget, because whatever the judiciary misses out on, the Tax Office makes up for it. Today, it graciously informed me that the fine for late payment of taxes or arrears is 50.000 dinars, and the late payment interest is 18%. It's not the end of the Lord's summer, nor is it the end of the tax season, and the state is demanding tax, penalty and interest. The fine is higher than the tax, and the explanation is ingenious: the state does not have a fine smaller than 50.000, so you will pay that much even if you owe one dinar.
In disciplining citizens, the state does not know the truncheon, the plucking of the zuluf, the cvoka or the pedagogic admonition. Immediately a slap, to know who is the boss!
And I wish the honorable notaries a successful tax school year, they started with the grace of the state as well as schoolchildren on September 1. A man learns justice while he is alive.
