Notary Public 01:56 Dec 7, 2016
I keep seeing it cropping up as a point of discussion that Notario should be translated as "Civil-Law Notary" not as "Notary Public", yet the problem really lies with the translation of "Notary Public" from English into Spanish.
Notary public is no more the creation of the English/common-law system than a "court" is.
While it is true that an American "Notary Public" is not the same as a "Notario Público" in Colombia, the latter are, however, notaries public in the American sense of the term, but with a much higher level of legal expertise and authority than their American counterparts.
You would still call the "policía" in Mexico City the police, even though there is a big difference between police officers in Mexico and those in the UK, simply in terms of the powers they may or may not have, and even between police officers from different forces here in Mexico.
All we really need to be careful about is remembering not to "upgrade" the American notary public to a notario público, particularly given that in some US states (Texas, for example) it's actually prohibited for a US notary public to translate their title as "notario público". | 
