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surveying officer] having certified to us, that the said ship or vessel has [number] decks, and [number] masts, that her length, from the fore part of the main stem, to the after part of the stern post aloft, is [number of feet and inches,] her breadth at the broadest part [stating whether that be above or below the main wales] is [number of feet and inches,] her [height between decks, if more than one deck, or depth in the hold, if only one deck] is [number of feet and inches,] that she is [how rigged] rigged with a [standing or running] bowsprit, is [description of stern] sterned, [carvel or clincher] built, has [whether any or no] gallery, and [kind of head if any] head; and the said subscribing owners having consented and agreed to the above description, and having caused sufficient security to be given as is required by the said act, the said ship or vessel called the [name] has been duly registered at the port of [name of port.] Certified under our hands at the custom-house, in the said port of [name of port,] day of in the year

this

[words at length.]

(Signed)

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Collector.
Comptroller.

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To have and to hold the said ship or vessel, and all other the above bargained premises unto the said [purchaser's name,] his executors, administrators, and assigns, to his and their own use and uses, and as his

and their own proper goods and chattels from henceforth for ever. And I, the said [vendor's name,] do hereby for myself, my executors, and administrators, covenant, promise, and agree, to and with the said [purchaser's name,] his executors, administrators, and assigns, in manner following; that is to say, that, at the time of the ensealing and delivery hereof, I have in myself good right, full power, and lawful authority to grant, bargain, sell, assign, and set over the said hereby bargained premises unto the said [purchaser's name,] his executors, administrators, and assigns, in manner and form aforesaid. And that the said hereby bargained premises, and every part thereof, now are, and so from henceforth for ever shall be, remain, and continue unto the said [purchaser's name,] his executors, administrators, and assigns, free, and clear, and freely, and clearly acquitted and discharged of and from all former bargains, sales, gifts, grants, titles, debts, charges, and incumbrances whatsoever. And, further, that I, the said [vendor's name,] my executors and administrators, shall and will, from time to time, and at all times hereafter, at the requests, costs, and charges of the said [purchaser's name,] his executors, administrators, and assigns, make, do, and execute, or cause or procure to be made, done, and executed, all and every such further and other lawful and reasonable act and acts, deed and deeds, devices, conveyances, and assurances in the law whatsoever, for the further, better, and more effectually conveying, assigning, and assuring the hereby bargained premises, or any part thereof, unto the said [purchaser's name,] his executors, administrators, or assigns, as by him, them, any, or either of them, or by his, their, any, or either of their counsel in the law, shall be reasonably devised, advised, or required. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal the

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in the year of our Lord 18 Signed, sealed, and delivered, in the presence of

delivered,}

day of

Received on the day and year first above written of the above named [purchaser's name] the sum of being the consideration-money above mentioned. I say received.

L.

Witness.

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OBSERVATIONS ON THE OFFICE, FUNCTIONS, AND PRACTICE OF A NOTARY-PUBLIC.

A notary-public is a public officer of the civil and canon law, sworn, admitted, and enrolled in the Court of Faculties; and all instruments made by and be fore him notarially, and passed under his official seal, are called public or notarial instruments. His appointment to his office is by Faculty, granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who decrees, in such Faculty, "that full faith ought to be given, as well in judgment as thereout, to the instruments to be made by the notary so appointed, the oaths thereunder written having been first required of such notary, and by him taken." Notaries-public are, in several instances, necessarily created such for a restricted object only; such as to be enabled to practise as a 'proctor in any ecclesiastical court, or as a secretary to a bishop, or for the purpose of holding or exercising any office or appointment, or occasionally performing any public duty or service under Government," in which instances their notarial functions are of a limited nature; but when they are admitted or created as general practitioners, and duly enrolled and certificated, they are qualified by their office to prepare conveyances of, or deeds relating to, real or personal estates; and the act 44th Geo. III., cap. 98, sec. 14, which imposes a penalty of L.50 for each offence, upon any unqualified person drawing or preparing conveyances or deeds, contains an exception in favour of sergeants-at-law, barristers, solicitors, attorneys, notaries, &c., who may have obtained regular certificates. A considerable portion of the

business of those notaries-public who practise in seaport and trading towns, and who thence become possessed of much information as to the custom and usage of merchants in general, or as it is termed the law-merchant, consists in preparing instruments and documents relating to commercial transactions, and the like, such as charter-parties, bills of sale of ships, bottomry, respondentia, and other bonds, "ship and other protests, powers of attorney, certificates, affidavits, solemn declarations, &c., &c. Notaries-public are also frequently called upon to draw wills, codicils, leases, agreements, contracts, &c.; and to execute commissions or requisitions issuing out of foreign courts, &c.: They are exclusively authorized to note and protest bills; and to "make, do, act, exercise, execute, and perform," many other "acts, matters, and things:" They are extensively employed in certifying or attesting deeds, instruments, writings, facts, and circumstances, and in legalizing signatures, and hands-writing, in order to render the same authentic, both here and in foreign kingdoms; as well as in granting notarial acts- -a class of documents of unbounded extent: And by the 6th Will. IV., cap. 62, they are empowered to administer or receive solemn declarations substituted in lieu of oaths, affidavits, and affirmations.

The admission of persons on the Roll of Faculties 41st Geo. IIL is principally regulated by the 41st Geo. III., cap. 78, which prohibits persons not duly admitted, according to its provisions, from acting as public notaries in England. By the second section of that act, it is enacted, that after the 1st August 1801, no person shall be admitted as a notary, unless he shall have served as a clerk for seven years to a public notary or a scrivener, (according to the custom of London, such person being also a notary-public,) and unless within three months after the date of his indenture of clerkship, an affidavit of the execution thereof by himself and his master be made by one of

The act of 4th

70, enabling

the subscribing witnesses, and filed according to the directions of the act.

The act subjects any person acting as a notary (except proctors, secretaries to bishops, and persons necessarily created a notary for the purpose of holding or exercising some office or service under Government, and not as general practitioners) to a penalty of L.50, unless qualified according to the provisions of the act, or in practice before its passing. And it also subjects any notary acting or permitting his name to be used, "for or on account, or for the profit or benefit" of any person not a notary, to the penalty of being struck off the roll, except as to any allowance or sums agreed to be paid to the widow or children of any deceased notary by a surviving partner.

The provisions of the above act being found inWill. IV., cap. convenient in places distant from London, an act attorneys and was passed in the fourth year of the reign of his late proctors to be Majesty Will. IV., cap. 70, for admitting attorneys, admitted no- solicitors, and proctors, beyond the limits of ten miles

taries.

act of 41st

Geo. III., cap.

79.

from London, entitled, " An act to alter and amend an act of the 41st year of his Majesty King George the Third, for the better regulation of public notaries in England;" whereby, after reciting the act of the Recital of the 41st George the Third, it was enacted, "That so much of that act as required that persons to be admitted notaries-public shall have served a clerkship or apprenticeship for seven years, should, so far as the same affected persons being attorneys, solicitors, or proctors, admitted as thereinafter mentioned, be limited and confined to the city of London and liberties of Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and the circuit of ten miles from the Royal Exchange in the said city of London."

Recited act limited to London, and ten miles thereof.

Attorneys may be ad

mitted as no

taries out of

those limits.

And it is further enacted by section 2, "That from and after the passing of this act, it shall and may be lawful for the master of the Court of Faculties of his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury in Lon

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