The Gazette 1949-1952

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