5.2 Journal Requirements
Key Takeaways
- 57 Pa.C.S. § 319 REQUIRES every Pennsylvania notary to keep a journal recording, in chronological order, all notarial acts performed.
- A tangible journal must be a BOUND register with NUMBERED pages; an electronic journal must be in a tamper-evident format that meets Department regulations.
- Each entry is made contemporaneously and must contain six items: date/time, description and type of act, full name and address of each individual, identity basis, ID details, and the fee charged.
- On expiration, resignation, or revocation the notary must deliver the journal to the county Recorder of Deeds within 30 DAYS (unless reapplying).
- The journal is the exclusive property of the notary, may not be used by anyone else or surrendered to an employer, and a lost or stolen journal must be reported to the Department promptly.
The Journal Is Mandatory
Under 57 Pa.C.S. § 319, keeping a journal is not optional in Pennsylvania. The statute commands that a notary public “shall maintain a journal in which the notary public records in chronological order all notarial acts” performed. Every acknowledgment, oath, verification, signature witnessing, and copy certification — paper or electronic — goes in the journal, in the order it occurred. There is no exemption for free or employer-paid acts.
Acceptable Journal Formats
| Format | Statutory Requirement |
|---|---|
| Tangible (paper) | A bound register with numbered pages — no loose-leaf, spiral, or removable sheets, so entries cannot be inserted or torn out undetected. |
| Electronic | A tamper-evident electronic format that complies with the Department's regulations, with an audit trail that reveals alteration. |
The statute permits a notary to maintain a separate journal for tangible records and for electronic records — for example, a bound book for in-person paper notarizations and a tamper-evident e-journal for remote online acts. Whichever format is used, entries stay in chronological order.
The Six Required Entry Fields
Section 319(c) says each entry “shall be made contemporaneously with performance of the notarial act” — at the time of notarization, not reconstructed later — and must contain all six of the following:
| # | Required Entry Content |
|---|---|
| 1 | The date and time of the notarial act. |
| 2 | A description of the record (if any) and the type of notarial act (e.g., acknowledgment, jurat). |
| 3 | The full name and address of each individual for whom the act is performed. |
| 4 | If identity rests on personal knowledge, a statement to that effect. |
| 5 | If identity rests on satisfactory evidence, a brief description of the method of identification and any credential presented, including its date of issuance and expiration. |
| 6 | The fee charged by the notary public. |
Identity recording trap: the statute does not require the signer to sign the journal, and it does not require recording a full ID number. Best practice and Department guidance favor recording only partial identifiers (such as the last digits of a credential) and avoiding full Social Security numbers or full driver's license numbers, which the 2026 regulations restrict to protect personal information.
Ownership, Inspection, and Lost Journals
Section 319(h) makes the journal the exclusive property of the notary public. It may not be used by any person other than the notary, and it may not be surrendered to an employer upon termination of employment — a tested point, because employers often assume the book is theirs. The journal and each public record are also exempt from execution (cannot be seized to satisfy a debt).
The public has a right to records of the notary's acts: a notary shall give a certified copy of the journal to any person that applies for it. If a journal is lost or stolen, § 319(d) requires the notary to promptly notify the Department upon discovering the loss or theft.
What Happens When the Commission Ends
This is the most-missed rule. Pennsylvania does not have the notary personally store the journal for a set number of years. Instead, under § 319(e), within 30 days of the expiration, resignation, or revocation of the commission, the notary must deliver the journal to the office of the Recorder of Deeds in the county where the notary last maintained an office — unless the notary applies for a new commission within that period and continues the same book.
| Triggering Event | Action | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Commission expires (no renewal) | Deliver journal to county Recorder of Deeds | 30 days |
| Commission resigned | Deliver journal to Recorder of Deeds | 30 days |
| Commission revoked | Deliver journal to Recorder of Deeds | 30 days |
| Notary dies / adjudged incompetent | Personal representative or possessor delivers journal | 30 days |
The Recorder of Deeds — not the former notary — then preserves the delivered register as a public record, where it remains available for certified copies long after the commission lapses.
Why "Contemporaneous" and "Chronological" Matter
Two statutory words drive most journal discipline questions. Contemporaneous means the entry is written at the moment of notarization, while the signer is present — not batched at day's end and not reconstructed from memory. Chronological means acts are recorded in the order performed, which is exactly why a tangible journal must be bound with numbered pages: a sequential, page-numbered book makes it impossible to back-date an act or slip a record between two existing entries without detection.
These rules give the journal its evidentiary value. If a notarization is later challenged — a forged deed, a disputed power of attorney — the journal is the notary's primary defense and the public's proof of what happened. A complete, time-stamped, in-order entry showing how the signer was identified can resolve litigation; a back-dated line destroys credibility.
Certified Copies and Privacy Balance
Section 319 builds in public accountability: the notary must give a certified copy of the journal to any person who applies for it — a certified reproduction of the relevant entries, not merely a glance at the book.
That openness is balanced against privacy. Because journal entries can be disclosed, the 2026 regulations restrict embedding highly sensitive identifiers — a notary should not record a full Social Security number or a full driver's license number. Capturing the credential type, issuing authority, and issuance/expiration dates (with only partial digits where needed) satisfies entry field #5 while limiting exposure if a certified copy is released.
| Good Practice | Avoid |
|---|---|
| Record credential type, issuer, issue/expiration dates | Recording a full Social Security number |
| Note partial credential digits if identification detail is needed | Copying a full driver's license number into the book |
| One running, page-numbered book (or compliant e-journal) | Loose sheets that allow insertion or removal |
| Enter each act at the time it occurs | Filling in entries hours or days later |
Section 319 says a journal entry must be made 'contemporaneously.' What does that mean in practice?
Under 57 Pa.C.S. § 319, what must a paper notarial journal physically be?
A notary's commission expires and they do not reapply. What does § 319 require them to do with the journal, and by when?
Which item is NOT one of the six pieces of information § 319 requires in each journal entry?