Officers before whom made ACTIVE

All instruments requiring acknowledgment, if acknowledged without the United States, shall be acknowledged before an ambassador, minister, envoy or charge d'affaires of the United States, in the country to which he is accredited, or before one of the following officers commissioned or accredited to act at the place where the acknowledgment is taken, and having an official seal, viz.:--any officer of the United States; a notary public; or a commissioner or other agent of this state having power to take acknowledgments.