In my opinion, these are related to the law(legal) systems by each country. (English is not my tongue language so some words might be imprecise, but I think you'll get it)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notary_public
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law
Common Law Countries: Particularly common law is in England where it originated in the Middle Ages, and in countries that trace their legal heritage to England as former colonies of the British Empire, including India, the United States federal government, 49 of its 50 states (excluding Louisiana), Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Canada and all its provinces except Quebec, Malaysia, Ghana, Australia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma, Ireland, New Zealand, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Cyprus, Barbados, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Namibia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Botswana, Guyana and Israel.
Civil Law Countries:
Too many to name, if your country is not on the list of Common Law Countries, you might use the Civil Law System.
For Common Law Countries and Areas:
A notary's main functions are to administer oaths and affirmations, take affidavits and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate the execution of certain classes of documents, take acknowledgments of deeds and other conveyances, protest notes and bills of exchange, provide notice of foreign drafts, prepare marine or ship's protests in cases of damage, provide exemplifications and notarial copies, and perform certain other official acts depending on the jurisdiction. Any such act is known as a notarization. The term notary public only refers to common-law notaries and should not be confused with civil-law notaries.
For Civil Law Countries and Areas:
The role of notaries in civil law countries is much greater than in common law countries. Civilian notaries are full-time lawyers and holders of a public office who routinely undertake non-contentious transactional work done in common law countries by attorneys/solicitors, as well as, in some countries, those of government registries, title offices, and public recorders. The qualifications imposed by civil law countries are much greater, requiring generally an undergraduate law degree, a graduate degree in notarial law and practice, three or more years of practical training ("articles") under an established notary, and must sit a national examination to be admitted to practice. Typically, notaries work in private practice and are fee earners, but a small minority of countries have salaried public service (or "government" / "state") notaries (e.g., Ukraine, Russia, Baden-Württemberg in Germany, certain cantons of Switzerland).
Civil law notaries have jurisdiction over strictly non-contentious domestic civil-private law in the areas of property law, family law, agency, wills and succession, and company formation. The point to which a country's notarial profession monopolizes these areas can vary greatly. On one extreme is France (and French-derived systems) which statutorily give notaries a monopoly over their reserved areas of practice, as opposed to Austria where there is no discernible monopoly whatsoever and notaries are in direct competition with attorneys/solicitors.
Distinction from notaries public:
Save for Louisiana, Puerto Rico, and Quebec, a civil-law notary should not be confused with a notary public in the United States and Canada, who has none of the legal powers notaries enjoy at civil law. Rather, notaries public only have the power to administer oaths, take affidavits, declarations or depositions from witnesses, acknowledge and attest signatures, and certify copies, usually in conjunction with some legal process. In Louisiana, Puerto Rico, and Quebec, private law is traditionally based on the French and Spanish civil codes, giving notaries greater legal powers, including the right to prepare wills, conveyances and generally all contracts and instruments in writing. For this reason, immigrants from civil-law countries where civil-law notaries exist, particularly those from Latin America, are often confused by the office of notary public and have been defrauded by dishonest notaries misrepresenting themselves as having legal powers. Thus, in some states there have been ongoing efforts to prohibit notaries public from listing themselves as notario público. Such a law has existed for more than fifteen years in California. Similar laws now exist in Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.
Florida (1997) and Alabama (1999) have enacted statutes allowing for the appointment of Florida[5] or Alabama[6] attorneys as civil-law notaries with the power to authenticate documents, facts and transactions. This is not the same as a notary public appointment. Attorneys with a minimum of 5 years of Bar membership are appointed after specialized training and state examination. Acts of Florida and Alabama civil-law notaries are given both domestic and international effect under their enabling statutes.
That is why Canada requires an accredited translator, because their Notary Public does not certify the correctness of the translated documents. My country is Civil Law system, and we do not have accredited translators. Since the notaries are responsible for the correctness of the translated docs, we can translate the docs by ourselves. The point should be to examine if your translated docs have legal effect, and it depends on the law system by each country. Of course it would be less hassle if you can find another one signed on your translated docs and get it notarized. But if you are in a Civil Law country and your translated docs are notarized by an official notary, the doc should have its legal effect no matter who the translator is.
If the VO only judges by the translator signature and returns your case, I think they are not good enough to be a VO in an immigration office. In my opinion, they should know the basic difference of each country because their role is to handle these foreign affairs.
