What is PROTOCOL

The first draft or rough minutes of an instrument or transaction ; the original copy of a dispatch, treaty, or other document. Brande. A document serving as the preliminary to, or opening of, any diplomatic transaction. In old Scotch practice. A book, marked by the clerk-register, and delivered to a no- tary on his admission, in which he was directed to insert all the instruments he had occasion to execute; to be preserved as a record. Bell. In France, the minutes of notarial acts were formerely transcribed on registers, which were called “protocols.” Toullier, Droit Civil Fr. liv. 3, t. 3. c. 6, s. 1, no. 413. PROTOCOLO. In Spanish law. The original draft or writing of an instrument which remains in the possession of the es- cribano, or notary. White. New Recop. lib. 3, tit 7, c. 5,