124 / 244
6. Now comes the setting out of the Deed which
is the source o f 75 per cent, of our trouble here.
The first point to be grasped is that the setting out
refers to the execution of the
deed
only and should
be completed
before
the Memorial is signed and
sealed. So often is this obvious requirement
honoured in the breach rather than the observance
that I transcribe hereunder Maguire p. 51, para. 2
in fu ll:—
“ The names and additions o f the witnesses to the
instrument ought to be set out in the memorial
before the latter is signed and sealed. This is one
of the important matters to be stated in the memorial,
with the view to the identity and authenticity of the
instrument. It is the clear intention of the Statute
that the statement so made in the memorial should,
like every other statement required by the Statute,
be authenticated by the signatures and seals o f the
parties making it. Hence, the insertion o f these
particulars in the memorial after, instead of before,
the signing and sealing is quite irregular, and has
been judicially condemned.”
The country solicitors must take most o f the blame
here, in that in most cases they send Deed and
Memorial to their Town Agents with the words,
“ which said Deed (and this Memorial) as to (their)
execution. . . .” leaving the Agent to do the rest.
And even these few words are incorrect since you
cannot set out the signing and sealing o f the
Memorial as it has not yet been done. Apart from
the irregularity of this practice, the drawbacks are
obvious : the art of writing is near to being a lost
one, and the local solicitor or his clerk should know,
what the scrawl that often passes for a signature,
address and description purports to be. Locally
then, the necessary particulars can be correctly
transferred to the Memorial, whilst if the matter is
left to the Town Agent, he or his clerk then are
often hopelessly at sea as to what the witness’s
signature is meant to be and what is the address
and description of the witness. The address and
description are not always in the Deed, but they
must appear in the setting out so that the possibility
o f having a wrong address and/or description
inserted in the setting out is a danger, and a danger
that obviously cannot be detected by our Comparison
Officer.
So vexatious has this matter of the setting out
always been that I propose to have an instruction
issued by the Registrar that as and from the xst
January, 1951, all memorials in which the setting
out of the Deed has not been completed before they
are handed in, will be refused/or
comparison.
7. The fact that one witness is sufficient in the
Deed is often carried by analogy into the Memorial,
but the Memorial must be signed and sealed in the
presence o f
two
witnesses, the second witness being
not necessarily a witness to the Deed, and such a
witness must add his address and description.
8. The affidavit of perfection is usually as one
would expect accurate enough. The main thing
to be watched is that it should be dated on or subse
quent to the date o f the Deed, that any alterations
be initialled by the Commissioner or P.C., and if
taken before a P.C. for the said County or City as
the case may be. Affidavits sent to out-of-the-way
places should request the person before whom they
are sworn to state after his signature that he is
qualified to take Affidavits in that particular place.
9. The certificate of contents is often dealt with
too cavalierly. A conventional 1 grantor 1 denomin
ation 7 folios is made to serve cases where it has no
application. Perhaps if the certifier were aware
that if the certificate be untrue “ the person sub
scribing the same shall forfeit £5 to be recovered
by Civil Bill by any officer in the Registry Office
who will sue for the same ” he would be more
careful.
10. One other point may be mentioned: the
conveyancer who turns to page 376 and under the
heading “ forms ” comes on “ Memorial of an
Indenture containing nothing more than the statu
tory requirements,” and proceeds to draw his
Memorial on these lines without observing that the
following pages give “ forms ” also—for Lease,
Mortgage, etc., and so perpetrates a memorial in an
obsolescent form which necessitates the putting of
all the parties on our books as grantors and the
describing of the general nature o f the instrument
as “ not disclosed by memorial.”
BANK STRIKE
S
tamping
of
D
eeds
, P
ayment
of
D
eath
D
uties
S
tamping
of Annual Practising Certificates. Land
Registry fees
purchased in the Stamp Office
,
Tour Courts.
Arrangements have been made with the Revenue
Commissioners that pending the restoration of
normal banking facilities, solicitors’ unguaranteed
cheques will, in the absence o f special reasons, be
accepted in the Stamp Office in discharge of duties.
Client’s cheques will not be accepted without
special permission from the Commissioners. A
Solicitor wishing to pay duties by means o f a
clients’ unguaranteed cheque instead o f by his own
cheque should write to the Revenue Commissioners
stating the circumstances.
52