WITH the improvement of law protection awareness, notary business now covers 130 categories in the city. Shenzhen has received 100,000 notary applications covering land ownership, mortgage, pre-marital property settlements for three consecutive years.

　　However, getting people to better understand the business was not an easy task, according to Luo Lilian of Shenzhen Notarization Office.

　　The office rejected around 1,000 unreasonable applications every year.

　　One woman, who had been married for 15 years, asked a registrar to notarize her husband's commitment before the marriage, for fear that he would abandon her. The application was rejected because this type of emotional notarization was not within the range of service.

　　Luo said notarization could not infringe upon a person's privacy or confine another's personal freedom.

　　She added notarization had law-abiding force, so the contents must be subjective to law.

　　(Han Ximin)