Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 9.djvu/469

THE ENGLISH STATUTES OF 1895. 441 the Law of Evidence, Art. 83, where the three methods of proof will be found.) The Finance Act, 1895 (5^ Vict. c. 16), makes a few alterations in the Stamp Act, 1891 (54 & 55 Vict. c. 39). Under the Stamp Act, 1 89 1, a receipt written upon a bill of exchange or promissory note duly stamped, or upon a bill drawn by any person under the authority of the Admiralty upon and payable by the Accountant General of the Navy, was not liable to duty. In future it will be so Hable, except in the case of bankers writing their names on bills or notes in their ordinary course of business, or payees of drafts payable to order signing the same. If a payee wishes for any reason to indorse a bearer check, it would be as well first to make it an order check. Where property is vested by an Act of Parlia- ment, a Queen's printer's copy is to be stamped. If purchased under a statutory power, the instrument of conveyance is to be stamped. In each case, the stamped copy Act or the instrument is to be produced to the Inland Revenue within three months after vesting or completion, with a penalty for non-compliance. It is sometimes thought that railway companies and others who purchase property which they mean to hold permanently do not alwa}.s take the trouble to stamp their deeds, and unless the deed has to be produced in court the Revenue loses the duty. In future they will have to exercise greater care on this point. The Stamp Act, 1891, made life and accident policies of insur- ance include the well known newspaper advertisements in that behalf. The same principle is now to be applied to insurance against sickness or incapacity from personal injury. Formerly, when three months after the first execution of any instrument had elapsed, there was no power to remit stamp penalties. This limit is now abolished. This is perfectly right, as bona fide mistakes may be made and not discovered within the necessary three months. The Commissioners may quite well be trusted not to exercise their powers of remission unreasonably. The Seal Fisheries (North Pacific) Act, 1895 (58 & 59 Vict, c. 21), is probably too well known in the States to require English comment. It is one of the many Acts in favor of a close time for seals, and applies to the animal known as the *' fur seal," and to any marine animal specified in that behalf by an Order in Council under the Act. Presumably this means marine animals, ejiisdem generis, and would not extend to whales, turtles, or sea-serpents, but the language is remarkably wide.