Acknowledgment (law)

In law, an acknowledgment is a declaration or avowal of one's own act, to give it legal validity; as, the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer. The term also refers to the certificate of the officer attesting such declaration.In most states, this is required for a signatory to be bound by the terms of a contract. A contract cannot be sworn, since its purpose is to define a future act and therefore cannot be "true" at the moment of execution. Specific language is required, which is described by its purpose rather than the exact phrase. In New York, an acknowledgment is defined as "executed in the manner required for a deed to be recorded", the same as a conveyance of title to real property. The acceptable language is: On the___________day of_________, 2006, before me, the undersigned, personally appeared ( name ), personally known to me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the individual whose name is subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged to me that she/he executed the same in her/his capacity, and that by her/his signature on the instrument, the individual, or the person upon behalf of which the individual acted, executed the instrument.
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