Public broker or notary?
The State delegates public faith to different professionals. This explains what sets them apart and which one to go to based on the act you are performing.
Public broker and notary: two officials, two domains
The State delegates public faith to different professionals. The notary and the public broker are two of them. Neither is above the other: they are distinct figures, created for distinct matters, and what separates them is not hierarchy but jurisdiction.
Where each figure comes from
The notary is an institution rooted in civil law, under local jurisdiction. Each state has its own law: in Mexico City, the Notarial Law for Mexico City. The license is granted by the state government and the notary practices within it.
The public broker is under federal jurisdiction. It is governed by the Federal Public Broker Law, published in 1992, and its regulations. The license is granted by the Ministry of Economy, which also supervises practice. The broker is, by legal definition, a trade auxiliary.
Everything else follows from this: the notary has general jurisdiction; the broker has commercial jurisdiction.
The instrument has a different name
The notary records in their protocol and authorizes public deeds for legal acts, and notarial certificates for facts. They issue certified copies from these.
The public broker records in their Registry Book and authorizes policies for commercial contracts, agreements, and legal acts, and certificates for commercial facts and document certifications. They issue certified copies from these.
Two different names for the same effect: both are public instruments and both provide full proof. A company constituted by policy before a public broker and one constituted by deed before a notary are registered equally in the Public Commercial Registry and are worth exactly the same.
Comparison
What corresponds to each one
| Aspect | Public broker | Notary |
|---|---|---|
| Governing law | Federal Public Broker Law. Licensing and supervision by the Ministry of Economy. | Notarial law of each state. In Mexico City, the Notarial Law for Mexico City. |
| Subject matter | Exclusively commercial. | Civil and commercial. |
| Instrument | Policy and certificate, recorded in the Registry Book. Issues certified copies. | Deed and certificate, recorded in the protocol. Issues certified copies. |
| Company formation | Competent. The instrument is the policy, registered in the Public Commercial Registry.→ | Competent. The instrument is the public deed, registered in the Public Commercial Registry. |
| Assemblies, capital increases, merger, split | Competent. This is the broker's own domain.→ | Competent. |
| Commercial contracts and agreements | Competent, unless the act involves real estate. | Competent. |
| Real estate operations | Does not intervene. The law expressly excludes it. | Exclusive jurisdiction. The required official for transferring real estate ownership. |
| Wills, estates, and civil status acts | Does not intervene. Proper domain of notarial practice. | Exclusive jurisdiction. |
| Statement of facts | Of commercial facts. | Of facts in general. |
| Document certification and signature ratification | Competent in commercial matters. | Competent. |
| Valuation | Expert appraiser by express provision of their law: goods, services, rights and obligations, including intangibles and going concerns.→ | Not a function their law attributes to them. |
| Commercial mediation and arbitration | Express function of their law: mediation agent and arbitrator in commercial disputes.→ | Not a function of their own law. May perform it if certified under alternative justice legislation. |
Is your case commercial?
Describe the act you want to perform and we will confirm whether we are the appropriate official. If we are not, we will tell you.
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