Court Opinion

ID: 9811371
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 22:18:54.323885+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:13:13.457269
License: Public Domain

Clark:, C. J.,
concurring: Tbe answer in this case was sworn to before “Alleene” C. Jones, notary public, 13 November, 1913. If tbe majority opinion in S. v. Knight, 169 N. C., 333, wbicb set aside chapter 12, Laws 1915 (wbicb provided tbat women could exerci.se tbe duties and powers of a notary public), is to be adhered to, it must be upon tbe ground that women are inherently incompetent, under tbe Constitution, to discharge tbat duty, and hence they must have been so at tbe date tbat this answer was filed. Consequently, tbe answer of tbe defendant not being legally verified, tbe allegations of tbe verified *344complaint would be taken as true, and tbe discussion in tbe opinion of tbe rights of tbe parties is unnecessary.
Furthermore, tbe deed to tbe defendant Roanoke Railroad and Lumber Company, 25 June, 1907, was acknowledged before Miss Rosa T. Bilisoly, notary public. This point was made on the trial below and in this Court, and tbe fact that she was a woman was not denied. Tbe acknowledgment of this deed, certified under her “band and official seal” as notary public, is beaded “North Carolina — Nash County.” It is true that tbe clerk of tbe Superior Court in passing upon her certificate says: “Tbe foregoing certificate of Rosa T. Bilisoly, notary public of Norfolk, Ya., is adjudged to be correct. But tbe certificate made by her recites, as above, tbe acknowledgment as having been taken before her in Nash County.
If there is, as I believe, no inherent defect, either in fact or in law, which disables women from signing a certificate as notary public, then I acquiesce in tbe opinion of tbe Court, if a woman cannot be a notary; but tbe discussion in tbe opinion is unnecessary and obiter.
In Nicholson v. Lumber Co., 160 N. C., 33, we held that where tbe probate of a deed is taken before a woman notary public in another State it will be assumed that she rightfully held tbe position in that State, and Virginia is one of- some forty-odd States and territories in which a woman can exercise tbe duties of that position. Indeed, in Virginia it is held that “any man or woman 18 years of age” can be a notary public. But in this case tbe acknowledgment of tbe deed for land in this State, as already stated, purports to have been taken by Miss Bilisoly' in Na.sb County in this State.
There is no recital by tbe clerk that Alleene 0. Jones, before whom tbe verification of tbe answer was made, was a notary public in another State, and tbe verification purports to have been taken in Nash County.