Notaries work differently in different countries; they emphasize different facets of a notary system.
In the U.S. notaries are traditionally decentralized, and a notary often maintains possession of their journals for years if not in perpetuity.
The primary functions of the notary in Common Law jurisdictions is the ceremonial and evidentiary value, not administrative value as in Civil Law countries. (All three functions matter in both systems.) Ceremonial because we can assume that when someone executes a notarized signature we can impute greater attentiveness to the contract. Evidentiary because the notary himself and the required third-party witnesses are (or should be) readily identifiable and available for questioning regarding the circumstances of the execution of the signature, including the authenticity and state-of-mind of the executor.
Plain signatures operate much the same way--we use them for their ceremonial and evidentiary value. It doesn't matter that a signature is easy to forge; the signature is a device for anchoring the act of consent to a concrete environment where we can begin asking and investigating pertinent questions as to authenticity and intent. In practice, the validity of signatures is rarely challenged in court. Either everybody agrees it's obviously or plausibly forged, or everybody agrees it's valid. But disputes regarding the circumstances surrounding the signature are endlessly varied. (Civil Law countries traditionally handle the problem by making notarized signatures the final and only word--non-notarized signatures have no value, notarized signatures cannot be repudiated. They sacrifice fairness for administrative efficiency. The trade-off between fairness and administrative efficiency is at the heart of most distinctions between Common Law and Civil Law systems.)
Public ledgers are not suitable substitutes for either of the above functions, whether according to the calculus of the Common Law or Civil Law systems. Arguably they're a step backwards. They're great for replacing all the other technical machinations of transactions except the most important ones--the ones that allow us to adjudicate disputes regarding intent and similar complex questions.
In the U.S. notaries are traditionally decentralized, and a notary often maintains possession of their journals for years if not in perpetuity.
The primary functions of the notary in Common Law jurisdictions is the ceremonial and evidentiary value, not administrative value as in Civil Law countries. (All three functions matter in both systems.) Ceremonial because we can assume that when someone executes a notarized signature we can impute greater attentiveness to the contract. Evidentiary because the notary himself and the required third-party witnesses are (or should be) readily identifiable and available for questioning regarding the circumstances of the execution of the signature, including the authenticity and state-of-mind of the executor.
Plain signatures operate much the same way--we use them for their ceremonial and evidentiary value. It doesn't matter that a signature is easy to forge; the signature is a device for anchoring the act of consent to a concrete environment where we can begin asking and investigating pertinent questions as to authenticity and intent. In practice, the validity of signatures is rarely challenged in court. Either everybody agrees it's obviously or plausibly forged, or everybody agrees it's valid. But disputes regarding the circumstances surrounding the signature are endlessly varied. (Civil Law countries traditionally handle the problem by making notarized signatures the final and only word--non-notarized signatures have no value, notarized signatures cannot be repudiated. They sacrifice fairness for administrative efficiency. The trade-off between fairness and administrative efficiency is at the heart of most distinctions between Common Law and Civil Law systems.)
Public ledgers are not suitable substitutes for either of the above functions, whether according to the calculus of the Common Law or Civil Law systems. Arguably they're a step backwards. They're great for replacing all the other technical machinations of transactions except the most important ones--the ones that allow us to adjudicate disputes regarding intent and similar complex questions.