He takes legal responsibility so he has to verify it. He has to verify your identity, claims, documents, do checks in various registers, transcribe and transmit information to various offices, etc, depends on what you are doing.
I am not saying I love this system, but to say notaries are useless (especially in countries like germany or italy) means not understanding their service.
Arguably the most important service a notary provides is archival. Everything signed at a notary is kept there pretty much in perpetuity. If a notary retires all his documents are taken over by their successor.
Perhaps there's a difference between jurisdictions? In the US a notary only stamps that you are authenticated (ie, not fraudulent) and that the document is what it claims to be.
The notary in Germany has a prescribed list of duties which goes beyond just identifying you. There is money laundering checks and ensuring filings with the government registers as well.
why should the collective pay the bill through taxes for privates to check they comply with the law? You realize in other countries you would still need to rely on the subpar services of a lawyer for any non-trivial issue?
What is that, socialism? /s
As I said, I am not saying that I'm a fan of notary services, but in countries like Italy and Germany where laws are different they do have a role.
People bash on this system and think it's more expensive but let's do some math.
E.g. In Italy we need notaries to buy a home but this includes a lot of services and it includes taxes, registrations, appraisals, etc. I am buying a house right now and I'm paying a whole 3300 euros to the notary (including taxes) for his services and I have literally to do not paperwork, go to any office or anything.
Now, in Texas, when buying a house you'd spending 6.75% in taxes, which would be much more than what you would pay in Italy (almost by a 10x factor) and all the costs of the paperwork is on the buyer and you get no assistance of any sort.
Are we sure other systems are much better?
What if you file wrong paperwork, do you get any legal protection? No. Well you would in Italy or Germany as the notary has legal responsibility for any documentation error or any missing verification.
It is really not as bad as people make it to be.
Again, I'm not vouching that's the best system there is, but I find it better for the consumer, cheaper and safer (also, way easier to have someone else handle all of the beaurocracy).
I'm in the UK and these notaries sound a lot like conveyancers.
In theory the conveyancer deals with the contract of transferring a property, they check the liabilities and conditions attached to a plot of land, and ensure the process goes smoothly.
In reality each side is paying £3000-5000 to have a bunch of totally form letters sent back and forth between the two parties.
I am not saying I love this system, but to say notaries are useless (especially in countries like germany or italy) means not understanding their service.