bill, draft, order, or note shall be deemed invalid and of no effect: Provided, That the title of a purchaser of land by a deed duly stamped, shall not be defeated or effected [affected] by the want of a proper stamp on any deed conveying said land by any person from, through, or under whom his grantor claims or holds title.
Foreign bills of exchange to be stamped before payment. Sec. 159. And be it further enacted, That the acceptor or acceptors of any bill of exchange or order for the payment of any sum of money drawn, or purporting to be drawn, in any foreign country, but payable in the United States, shall, before paying or accepting the same, place thereupon a stamp, indicating the duty upon the same, as the law requires for inland bills of exchange, or promissory notes, and no bill of exchange shall be paid or negotiated without such stamp; and if any person shall pay or negotiate, or offer in payment, or receive or take in payment, any such draft or order, the person or persons so offending shall forfeit the sum of two hundred dollars.
Stamp duty not required on, &c. Sec. 160. And be it further enacted, That no stamp duty shall be required on powers of attorney or any other paper relating to applications for bounties, arrearages of pay, or pensions, or to the receipt thereof from time to time, or upon tickets or contracts of insurance when limited to injury to persons while travelling; nor on certificates or [of]Post, p. 482. the measurement or weight of animals, wood, coal, or other articles; nor on deposit notes to mutual insurance companies for insurance upon which policies subject to stamp duties have been, or are to be, issued; nor on any certificate of the record of a deed or other instrument in writing, or of the acknowledgment or proof thereof by attesting witnesses; nor to any indorsement of a negotiable instrument, or on any warrant of attorney, accompanying a bond or note, when such bond or note shall have affixed thereto the stamp or stamps denoting the duty required; and whenever any bond or note shall be secured by a mortgage, but one stamp shall be required to be placed on such papers:Mortgages. Provided, That the stamp duty placed thereon shall be the highest rate required for said instruments, or either of them.
Stamps, stamped papers, &c., may be sold to collectors, &c.
Sec. 161. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner of internal revenue be, and is hereby, authorized to sell to and supply collectors, deputy collectors, postmasters, stationers, or any other persons, at his discretion, with adhesive stamps, or stamped paper, vellum, or parchment, as herein provided for, in amounts of not less than fifty dollars, upon the payment, at the time of delivery, of the amount of duties said stamps, stamped paper, vellum, or parchment, so sold or supplied, represent, and may allow, upon the aggregate amount of such stamps, as aforesaid, the sum of not exceeding five per centumCommission. as commission to the collectors, postmasters, stationers, or other purchasers; but the cost of any paper, vellum, or parchment shall be paid by the purchaser of such stamped paper, vellum, or parchment, as aforesaid: Provided,Commission on stamps for proprietary articles, when, &c. That any proprietor or proprietors of articles named in schedule C, who shall furnish his or their own die or design for stamps, to be used especially for his or their own proprietary articles, shall be allowed the following commission, namely: On amounts purchased at one time, of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, five per centum; on amounts over five hundred dollars, ten per centum. The commissioner of internal revenue may, from time to time, make regulations, upon proper evidence of the facts, for the allowance of such of the stamps issued under the provisions of this act as may have been spoiled, destroyed,Allowance for spoiled, &c., stamps. or rendered useless or unfit for the purpose intended, or for which the owner may have no use, or which through mistake may have been improperly or unnecessarily used, or where the rates or duties represented thereby have been paid in error, or remitted; and such allowance shall be made either by giving other stamps in lieu of the stamps so allowed for, or by repaying the amount or value, after deducting therefrom, in case of repayment, the sum of five per centum
