At the present time, peopleûs life is involved with and comes under the
control of law. Especially in the execution of legal matters, people have to appoint
their representatives by assigning them the power of attorney to act for them.
Now, it is easy and free for people to assign the power of attorney. All documents
concerning this kind of assignment do not need to be certified or examined by
any government sector. The result is that there may be counterfeited documents
or frauds and this will certainly damage the rights of the ones who have given
the power of attorney. Therefore, in order to prevent damages that might occur
in the future, the government should have intervening measures in assigning
of the power of attorney for the private sectorûs execution of legal matters.
The study of legal problems and obstacles related to the private
sectorûs assigning of the power of attorney for the execution of legal matters has
found that in foreign countries, a work unit is established to examine and
certify the correction of documents. This unit is called the Notary Public, which is
responsible for certifying documents or facts and evidences which are concerned
with the Civil Law. The notaries public are qualified or permitted by law to carry out the certification. In Thailand, there are government units responsible for
certifying documents, which are, for example, the Legalization Division in the
Department of Consular Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Registration
Office for the Certification of Signatures and Documents in the Council of
Lawyers; however, the principle of issuing the power of attorney under the current
law does not state the certification of assigning the authority, which may then
cause damage to the grantor of the authority. The laws and work units, that are
now available, are not sufficient to protect the rights of the person who assigns
the authority to ensure justice.
Therefore, the government should mend the law concerning the power
of attorney; the power of attorney should be granted by a document signed by
the grantee of the authority and the representative of the grantee of the authority,
no matter whether assigning is executed in writing or has to be accompanied
by any document. This will narrow a gap in the occurrence of problems. The Notary
Public should also be established to serve as the government unit to certify
documents, including foreign documents, to act as witnesses in signing
agreements as well as to make appointments for the parties involved in the
agreements. The establishment of the Notary Public will legalize all its certification
and what it has certified will be eligible to be used as evidence in the court.