Seal in United Kingdom

Concep of Seal in Procedural Law

In this context, a short definition of Seal may be the following: A seal is a mark which the court puts on a document to indicate that the document has been issued by the court.

Concept of Seal

The following is an old definition of Seal [1], a term which has several meanings:1. An instrument for impressing wax made to adhere to a writing, in attestation of the genuineness of the writing or of the deliberation with which it is executed. The impression produced with such instrument; also, any device allowed as a substitute for Such impression. The implement originally employed was a seal ring, and the substance wax, wafer, or other ceraceous matter. A substitute was a figured piece of leather or parchment, attached at the end of the document. At common law, a scroll or scribble, a figure, an impression or other device in or upon the texture of the writing material is not a seal. But now, by enactment, these are almost universally allowed as substitutes. Corporate seals, and the seals of publie officials and of notaries, are attached by means of a metallic die, and with or without wax or wafer. A seal is not necessarily of any particular form or figure; when not of wax nor made by a die, it is usually in the form of a scroll, but ” L. S.” or ” Seal,” inclosed in brackets or in some other design, are in common use. It may consist of the outline without any inclosure; it may be in the shape of a circle, an ellipse, a scroll, a rectangle, or an irregular figure; or it may be a simple dash or flourish of the pen. Its precise form cannot be defined; that depends upon taste or fancy., Whether an iusti’ument is under seal or not is a question for the court upon inspection; whether a mark or character shall be held to be a seal depends upon the intention of the executant as shown by the paper. “In all cases where a seal is necessary bylaw, to any commission, process, or other instrument provided for by the laws of Congress, it shall be lawful to affix the proper seal by making an impression there- with directly on the paper to which such seal is necessary; which shall be as valid as if made on other adhesive substances.” The use of seals as a mark of authenticity is very ancient. . In the civil law they were the evidence of truth. . . Among the Saxons, seals were little used; their method was for such as could write to subscribe their names, and, whether they could write or not, to affix the sign of the cross. For the same reason the Normans, an illiterate nation, used sealing only; which custom continued after learning had made its way among them. The oldest sealed charter in England, that of Edward the Confessor to Westminster abbey, was witnessed by his seal only. At the Conquest (1066), the Norman lords introduced waxen seals. . In the reign of Edward I (1273-1307), every freeman, and such of the villians as were fit to be put upon juries, had their individual seals. The impressions of these were a knight on horseback or other device; coats of arms were introduced by Richard I, who brought them from the crusades. . . This neglect of signing remained for a long tdmfe; for it was held in all books that sealing alone was sufficient to authenticate a deed: and so the common formula ” sealed and delivered ” continues to this day. Whenever a writing was read or exhibited as a person’s last will, the praetorian court would not sustain it unless each of the seven witnesses had severally affixed his seal to the outside. This is the first appearance of sealing in the history of jurisprudence, considered as a mode of authentication. The use of seals, however, as mere fastenings, is doubtless of much higher antiquity. With the Bomans, seals to wills and other documents of importance did not only attest the presence or assent of the signatary, but were also literally fastenings which had to be broken before the writing could be inspected. Formerly, wax was the most convenient and the only material used to receive the impressions. Hence it was said, sigillum est cera impressa; quia cera, sine impressione, non est sigillum: a seal is wax impressed; wax without an impression is not a seal. This is not an allegation that an impression without wax is not a seal., The courts have held that an impression made on wafers or other adhesive substance capable of receiving an impression comes within the definition ” cera impressa.” If then wax be construed to be merely a general term including any substance capable of receiving and retaining the impression of a ceal, paper, if it has that quality, may well be included in the category. The machine uow used to impress public seals does not require any substance to receive or retain the impression, which is as well defined, as durable – less likely to be defaced than that made on wax. It is the seal which authenticates, not the substance impressed. Identity is all that is desired. The statute of 20 Charles II (1678) indicated a necessity that transfers of realty should he in writing and signed. In early days in England, a deed had to be sealed, whether signed or not. A seal to an instrument imports a consideration, or renders proof unnecessary. The presumption is that what is executed with so much deliberation (see, in this resource, the term) and solemnity is founded upon sufficient cause. The present opinion is that parol authority is adequate to authorize an alteration or addition to be made to a sealed instrument. When a .writing must be executed under seal, authority to an agent to execute it must be under seal. But where a seal is not vital to the contract, and the agent, unauthorized, signs with a seal, the instrument will still operate as a simple contract. Where a joint obligation concludes “witness our hands and seals,” and contains but one seal, this will be deemed the seal of each of the signers. Bond, deed, covenant, conveyance, warrant of attorney, and like terms, import a sealed instrument. A seal may destroy negotiability, see, in this resource, the term; but not of corporation bonds, see, in this resource, the term In Missouri, a scroll must be referred to as a seal, in the body of the instrument. When the seal of a party, required to make an instrument valid, has been omitted by accident or mistake, a court of equity may adjudge the instrument binding. Common seal; corporate seal. The seal of a corporate body. At common law, a corporation cannot manifest its intention by any personal act or oral discourse: it therefore acts and speaks only by its common seal. Though the particular members may express their private consent to act, by words or by signing their names, this does not bind the corporation: it is the fixing of the seal which unites the several assents of the individuals and makes one joint assent of the whole. The rule now is that for a contract of an ordinary every day occurrence a seal is not necessary; and that if such a contract has been executed, and the corporation has had the benefit of it, it must pay the price. The old rule still applies, however, to contracts of an extraordinary nature not within the usual business of the corporation. A corporation may bind itself by a contract not under its corporate seal, when the law does not require the contract to be evidenced by a sealed instrument. The corporate seal is to be affixed to transfers of realty, and to powers to make such transfers. See Specialty. Great seal; privy seal. Grants or letters-patent first pass by bill. This is then signed at the top with the king’s own sign-manual, and sealed with his privy signet, which is in the custody of the secretary of state; and then sometimes immediately passes under the great seal. Otherwise the course is to carry an extract to the keeper of the privy seal, who makes out a writ or warrant thereupon to the chancery. So that the sign-manual is the warrant to the privy seal, and the privy seal to the great seal. But some grants pass through certain offices, as the admiralty or the treasury, in consequence of the presence of the sign-manual without the confirmation of the signet, the great or the privy seal. The office of lord chancellor (see, in this resource, the term) is created by the mere delivery of the great seal into his custody: he having always had supervision of all such public instruments of the crown as were authenticated in the most solemn manner. Keeper of the seal. Of the great seal: an officer through whose hands pass all charters, grants, and commissions of the king under the great seal; the lord keeper of the great seal. Of the privy seal : an .officer through whose hands pass all charters signed by the king before they come to the great seal; at present, the lord keeper of the privy seal. To counterfeit the king’s great or privy seal was high treason, and a branch of the crimen falsi or forgery. Public seal. A seal belonging to one of the departments of government, in particular of the executory department, and used to attest approval and genuineness – of official acts, of copies of public documents. Seal, place of. The place on a document where a’seal is attached or is to be attached. In Latin, loeus sigilli; whence ” L. S.” – usually printed or written with an encircling scroll.By long usage and general understanding, ” L. S.” is regarded as representing a seal, in copies of legal precepts. If incumbent on an officer to^give a bond, and he furnishes an instrument having “L. S.” instead of a seal, and, upon the strength thereof, assumes the duties of the office, he and his sureties will be held upon the instrument as upon a bond. See Notary. 2, v. For a trial judge to certify by signing and sealing, or simply by signing, a statement of the exceptions taken to his rulings or charge is called ” sealing a bill of exceptions.” It is sufficient, in the practice of the Supreme Court, if the bill is simply signed by the judge. See further Exceptions, Bill of. 3.v. For a jury to write out and seal up their verdict, as, in an envelope, and then separate to meet and publish it in open court, is termed ” sealing their verdict,” g. v. 4. As to sealed letters, see Letters, 3; Publication, 2. Seals. In Louisiana, the effects of a decedent may be taken into public custody by means of “seals.” If the heir wishes to obtain the benefit of inventory, and delay for deliberation, before committing an act of heirship, he must cause seals to be affixed to the effects by a judge, or a justice of the peace; and, after ten days, petition for the removal of the seals, and that an inventory be taken. The seals are placed on the bureaus and on the doors of the apartments which contain the effects and papers of the deceased, so that they cannot be opened without destroying the seals; and they are “raised,” publicly, in the same manner. 5. To make air-tight, usually with wax. Placing wax upon the top of a cork in a bottle containing a sample of milk for analysis, and not extending the wax over the mouth so as to render the bottle air-tight, is not “sealing” it, within a statute providing for the preservation of alleged adulterated milk for use as evidence.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Meaning of Seal provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889)