Notary in Morocco

The lawyer:

The lawyer is a person whose profession is to conduct lawsuits for clients in a court of law and to advise or act for clients in other legal matters.

According to the Dahir N 1-93-162 of 22 Rebia I, 1414 (September 10, 1993), which organizes the function of lawyer, the occupation of lawyer is a liberal profession, which assists the magistrate to rule for justice.

Subjected to the acquired rights, the occupation of lawyer is governed by the provisions of the present Dahir bearing law. To access to the occupation of a lawyer, the candidate must:

Ð'* Be of Moroccan nationality or from a state related to the kingdom of Morocco by a convention.

Ð'* Be major and enjoy his civic and civil rights.

Ð'* Be titular of a bachelor in law delivered by a Moroccan faculty of law or an equivalent

Ð'* Diploma from a foreign faculty.

Ð'* Be titular of a certificate of aptitude to the exercise of the occupation of lawyer since less than two years.

Ð'* Not be condemned to a legal, disciplinary or administrative sorrow for facts opposite with the honor, probity, or the moralities

Ð'* Not be declared in a state of bankruptcy except if the object of rehabilitation.

Ð'* Be in a regular position with regard to the military service and of the non-national military service.

Ð'* Be able to follow the occupation with all its loads.

Ð'* Be of less than forty years old for those, which are not, exempted a training course.

The lawyer must be descent in his professional control the principles of freedom, impartiality, honesty, self-esteem, good reputation and all that the moralities require.

The Notary:

A notary is "a person who is publicly authorized to perform duties that are generally prescribed by a determined law; for instance he attests deeds, agreements and other instruments in order to give them authenticity, protests notes, bills of exchange and the like, certifies copies of agreements and other instruments."

Notaries are appointed by the Dahir of Chaoual 10, 1343 (May 4, 1343). They must deposit their signatures and initials, as well as a certified extract of the process-verbal of their service of oath, in each one of the secretariats of the court.

To aspire the function of Notary, it is necessary:

Ð'* To enjoy the exercise of the rights of citizens.

Ð'* To justify the working time prescribes by certain articles

Ð'* To have undergone with success, except exception, the professional examination prescribes by article 11.

Ð'* To be titular of a certificate of legal and administrative Moroccan studies delivered by the Moroccan institute of high studies in Rabat.

The main job of the notary is to give authenticity to some agreements, and this needs to go through some formalities that he supervises. As the opposite of the job of the lawyer, the notary is only responsible for the accordance of the formalities. For example if one of the parties (buyer or seller) wants to have some legal advice, he has to hire a lawyer that can do that for him. The lawyer will help the parties to prepare their documents and make them legally ready to be used by the notary.

* Procedure to follow to purchase the land:

According to the textbook "West's legal environment business" a contract is "a promise or a set of promises for the breach of which the law gives a remedy, or the performance of which the law in some way recognizes as a duty".

The case under study concerns foreign investors who intend to buy one hectare of land from a Moroccan citizen. To do so, they contacted a notary in order to protect their rights and to follow the process legally.

First, the notary should meet both parties to check if they satisfy the legal requirements: both parties must have the contractual capacity and the contract purpose should be of a legal matter. Then he has to make sure that both the seller and the buyer speak the French language, otherwise there is a necessity for a translator.

After, the notary has to check if the land is agricultural or industrial. In the case it is agricultural, the process will be stopped since foreign people do not have the right to purchase agricultural land in Morocco. Then, the notary will verify whether the land is registered or not in the property registry. If it is not found, the procedure will not be resumed. Subsequently,