As provided in this chapter:

Terms Used In North Dakota Code 44-06.1-01

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Individual: means a human being. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
  • Oath: includes "affirmation". See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Person: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.

1.    “Acknowledgment” means a declaration by an individual before a notarial officer that the individual has signed a record for the purpose stated in the record and, if the record is signed in a representative capacity, that the individual signed the record with proper authority and signed it as the act of the individual or person identified in the record.

2.    “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.

3.    “Electronic signature” means an electronic symbol, sound, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by an individual with the intent to sign the record.

4.    “In a representative capacity” means acting as:

a.    An authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee, or other representative for a person other than an individual; b.    A public officer, personal representative, guardian, or other representative, in the capacity stated in a record; c.    An agent or attorney in fact for a principal; or

d.    An authorized representative of another in any other capacity.

5.    “Notarial act” means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under the law of this state. The term includes taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy except as provided in subsection 7 of section 44-06.1-23, and noting a protest of a negotiable instrument.

6.    “Notarial officer” means a notary public or other individual authorized to perform a notarial act.

7.    “Notary public” means an individual commissioned to perform a notarial act by the secretary of state.

8.    “Official stamp” means a physical image affixed to a tangible record or an electronic image attached to or logically associated with an electronic record.

9.    “Person” means an individual, corporation, business trust, statutory trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.

10.    “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

11.    “Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:

a.    To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

b.    To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.

12.    “Signature” means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record.

13.    “Stamping device” means:

a.    A physical device capable of affixing to a tangible record an official stamp; or

b.    An electronic device or process capable of attaching to or logically associating with an electronic record an official stamp.

14.    “Verification on oath or affirmation” means a declaration, made by an individual on oath or affirmation before a notarial officer, that a statement in a record is true.