Kewenangan Notaris dalam Memberikan Konsultasi Hukum di Luar Akta Notaris: Telaah Terhadap Kode Etik dan Tanggung Jawab Sosial Notaris

Abstract

Legal education and legal consultation are two strategic instruments in fostering legal awareness and understanding within society. In the context of the notarial profession, these activities not only serve as tools for legal education but also represent the social responsibility of a notary. As a public official, a notary bears both moral and ethical obligations to contribute to equitable legal development through active participation in providing legal outreach and consultations. Legal outreach is collective and preventive in nature, while legal consultation is more individual and curative. The correlation between the two reflects a synergy between educational and solution-oriented approaches in bringing legal services closer to the community. The notary's social responsibility thus serves as both a normative and practical foundation to ensure equal access to justice and legal services. This study employs a normative juridical research method with a descriptive-analytical approach. The data used are secondary in nature, comprising primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. Data collection techniques include literature review and interviews. The data are qualitatively analyzed to yield descriptive-analytical results. The findings indicate that notaries play a significant role in enhancing public legal literacy as a preventive, educational, and solution-oriented measure. However, the authority of notaries to provide legal consultation is limited to matters directly related to the drafting of notarial deeds. Notaries are not authorized to provide legal assistance outside the deed-making process or to receive fees for such consultations. Nonetheless, many notaries voluntarily provide legal consultations free of charge as a manifestation oftheir social responsibility and the noble nature of their profession (officium nobile). Legal provisions governing notarial legal consultation remain ambiguous (blanket norms), leading to multiple interpretations and potential ethical violations. Therefore, clearer and more assertive regulations are necessary to ensure legal certainty and to strengthen the role of notaries as public legal service providers.