Section 16-47-103 - Officers authorized to take proof or acknowledgment of real estate conveyances(a) The proof or acknowledgment of every deed or instrument of writing for the conveyance of any real estate shall be taken by one of the following courts or officers: (1) When acknowledged or proven within this state, before the Supreme Court, the circuit court, the chancery court, or any judges thereof, the clerk of any court of record, any county or probate judge, or before any justice of the peace or notary public;(2) When acknowledged or proven outside this state, and within the United States or its territories, or in any of the colonies or possessions or dependencies of the United States, before any court of the United States, or any state or territory, or colony or possession or dependency of the United States, having a seal, or a clerk of any such court, or before any notary public, or before the mayor of any incorporated city or town, or the chief officer of any city or town having a seal, or before a commissioner appointed by the Governor of this state;(3) When acknowledged or proven outside the United States, before any court of any state, kingdom, or empire having a seal; any mayor or chief officer of any city or town having an official seal; or before any officer of any foreign country who by the laws of that country is authorized to take probate of the conveyance of real estate of his own country if the officer has, by law, an official seal.(b) The acknowledgment of any deed or mortgage, when taken outside the United States, may be taken and certified by a United States consul.Rev. Stat., ch. 31, § 13; Acts 1875, No. 13, § 1, p. 58; 1887, No. 91, § 1, p. 142; 1897, No. 26, § 1, p. 33; 1899, No. 150, § 1, p. 276; C. & M. Dig., § 1516; Acts 1921, No. 233, § 1; 1923, No. 464, §§ 1, 2; Pope's Dig., § 1825; A.S.A. 1947, §§ 49-202, 49-203.