A notary public commissioned in the State of Hawaii can _______ perform the notary's duties in the State of Hawaii and not in another state or country.

• A. Only in Hawaii
• B. Anywhere in the world
• C. Only in Hawaii and one other state
• D. Only during business hours

Answer: (A)

A notary’s authority is limited to the state that issued the commission. In Hawaii, a Hawaii-commissioned notary may perform notarial acts only within Hawaii’s borders. Notarial acts performed in another state or in another country would be outside their official powers and could be invalid, since each state sets its own requirements and the notary must be acting under that state’s laws at the time of the act. That’s why the correct statement is that they can only perform notarial duties in Hawaii. The other options fail because notary authority isn’t global, isn’t automatically extended to a second state, and isn’t determined by business hours.