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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>369983</law_id><section_number>55.1-638</section_number><catch_line>Acknowledgment when notary certifies erroneously as to expiration of commission</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2026/" slug="2026" current="TRUE" last_updated="2026-08-02">2026</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="120" identifier="55.1">Property and Conveyances</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="2" identifier="II">Real Estate Settlements and Recordation</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="6">Recordation of Documents</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="5" identifier="5">Validating Certain Acts, Deeds, and Acknowledgments</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>All certificates of acknowledgment to deeds and other writings taken and certified prior to July 1, 1995, by a notary public appointed or commissioned by the Governor, or appointed or commissioned under the <span class="dictionary">laws</span> of any state other than the Commonwealth, who mistakenly or by error certified that his commission had expired at the time he made such certificate, when in <span class="dictionary">fact</span> his commission had not at that time expired, shall be held and are hereby declared valid and effective in all respects if otherwise valid according to the <span class="dictionary">law</span> of the Commonwealth then in force, and the date and life of the notary&#x2019;s commission may be proved aliunde his certificate in any proceeding in which the capacity or authority of such notary is or shall be questioned, and all such deeds and other writings that have been recorded in any clerk&#x2019;s office in the Commonwealth upon such certificates shall be held to be duly and regularly recorded if such recordation is otherwise valid according to the <span class="dictionary">law</span> then in force.</p></section></text><history>1928, p. 996; Michie Code 1942, &#xA7; 5209h; Code 1950, &#xA7; 55-132; 1976, c. 685; 1984, c. 35; 1989, c. 602; 1995, c. 48; 2019, c. 712.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
