Oct 24, 2012 10:17
11 yrs ago
19 viewers *
Spanish term

M.S.

Spanish to English Law/Patents Law (general) Chile
This appears on a seal after the statement of the Conservador de Bienes Raíces (Chile):

"FULANITO DE TAL
*M.S.* del Titular
[Nombre del Notario]
SANTIAGO - CHILE"

As before, any help appreciated. Thanks, folks!
Change log

Oct 24, 2012 13:45: philgoddard changed "Field (specific)" from "Economics" to "Law (general)"

Discussion

Parrot (asker) Oct 24, 2012:
Interesting, Charles I've been wondering myself if it wasn't some cognate of "maître". From the names I've seen I seem to have stumbled on a French community.
Parrot (asker) Oct 24, 2012:
I have the seal twice and both times it looks like an M. Too much ink?
Charles Davis Oct 24, 2012:
Is there any chance that it could read "N.S." instead of "M.S."? "Notario suplente del titular" would make a lot of sense here. Or "notario público suplente del titular".

Proposed translations

4 hrs
Selected

authenticating officer acting as alternate (to the incumbent notary)

I think this just about deserves a confidence 3, but no more. I found quite a few examples of the expression "Notario suplente del titular" in Chilean docs. In fact there's been a KudoZ question on it, with the answer "alternate notary public".
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/law_patents/289...

If it were "N.S.", I would say it would very probably be the answer. But "M.S." must be something else.

I just remembered that notaries' assistants used to be called "ministros" in Spain in earlier eras. On checking Chilean sources, I find that "ministro de fe" denotes the prime function of a notary:

"1. El papel del notarío
El notario es un ministro de fe. "Es un funcionario público autorizado para dar fe de los contratos, testamentos y otros actos extrajudiciales, conforme a las leyes""
http://mingaonline.uach.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0718-095019910001...

And again, we've had questions on "ministro de fe" in Chile, for which "authenticating officer" or "certifying officer" seem to me convincing translations:
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/law:_contracts/...
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/law_general/281...

So I would suggest that M.S. could stand for "Ministro (de fe) suplente".

It could be that the person is not him/herself an actual notary public, but is acting as an authenticating officer as an alternate to the incumbent notary. I don't know about that. But it seems to me a reasonably plausible possibility for "M.S.".
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks! In the end, NS convinced me."
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