Understanding Legal Documents: Public vs. Private Instruments

Public Documents

These documents are drafted in accordance with legal requirements and with the intervention of a public official, thereby carrying greater legal weight and effectiveness than common documents.

Public documents pertaining to legal acts include:

• Deeds executed by public notaries in their protocol books, or by other officials with similar powers, and copies of those books taken as prescribed by law.
• Any other instrument issued by clerks or civil servants in the manner prescribed by law.
• Entries in brokers' books, in cases and as determined by the Commercial Code.
• Court papers made in records and signed by the parties, in cases and ways established by procedural law, and copies of such records issued by order of the presiding judge.
• Letters accepted by the government or its delegate, notes receivable or any instruments issued by the Treasury, and tax accounts taken from books and approved by the manager.
• Letters from individuals given in payment of customs duties or with corresponding entries belonging to the Treasury.
• Inscriptions on the public debt, both national and provincial.
• Shares of specially authorized companies, issued in accordance with their statutes.
• Notes, notebooks, and other financial instruments issued by banks authorized for such emissions.
• Marriage entries in parish or municipal registers, and copies taken from those books or records.

Private Instruments

This term refers to documents issued privately between parties.

Private instruments are not subject to specific formalities; the essential condition for their existence is the signature of a private party. Judicial recognition of a signature implies recognition of the document's authenticity.

However, even if a private instrument's signature is recognized, its exact date must be established to have legal effect in relation to both the parties involved and third parties. This date is determined by:

• The date of its presentation in court or any public agency for any purpose, if officially recorded.
• Its recognition before a notary and two witnesses.
• Its transcription into any public record.
• The death of the signatory, or of the person who wrote it and signed as a witness.