Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

Honorable Henry Wade District Attorney Dallas County Governmental Center Dallas, Texas 75202 Opinion No. ~-853 Re : Whether a rubber stamp engraved as directed by Article 5960 V.C.S., may be used by a Notary Public as his official seal to validate his Dear Sir: acts of office. You have requested from this office an official opinion on the following question: "Whether the authentication of his offkclal act.by a Notary Pub~lc'by'the use of a seal 'of.offi'ce"ma'de' 'by '~ the Imprint of a traditional rubber stamp~showlng a star of five points in the center and the words 'Notary Public, County of , Texas' around the margin (the blank to be fllledth the name of the County for whY.chthe Officer Is appointed), thus, by the use ,of an ink pad, making apprinted Impression as opposed to the tradltlona.1stamped or embossed impression, Is authorized under Article 5960, RCS." The controlling statute is Article 5960, Vernon's Texas Statutes which ,read~sas follows: "Each notary public shalI'provlde 'a seal of office, whereon shall be engraved in the ~center a star of five,~polnts,and the words, Notary Public, County Of Texas, around the margin (the blank to'be filled'wlth the name of the County.for.which the officer is appotnted),.and:he shall-authenticate' .,a11his.official acts therewith." -4141- Honorable Henry Wade, Page 2 (M-853) Such a statute Is subject to a liberal construction and a substantial compliance the,rewithobtains. 53 Tex. Jur 2d 298, Statutes, Sec. 194; also pages 16-17, Sec. 9. The specific directive of such statute is in regard to the text and form of a particular device or design to be engraved on the instrument referred to therein as a seal of office. Nothing in this statute or in the Constitution of Texas, nor in any other statute of this State or prior Constitution thereof, including the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, requires the use of any particular material in the construction of any seal, notarial or otherwise. The Chief Justices of the several county courts of the Republic of Texas were, ex officio, the first notaries public of the Republic and the first Congress thereof specified the seal to be used for such Courts, and for a notarial seal as well, to appear as follows: !'withthe style of the Court around the margin thereof, and a star of five points in the centre." Laws of Texas, 1833-40, Vol. 1, p.151. The first Constitution of the State of Texas authorized the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a convenient number of notaries public, but no mention was made of a seal of office for such officers. The early laws of this State often referred to the official hand and seal of notaries public but we have been unable to find any statute prescribing a form for such seal until 1876. The notary public seal prescribed by statute in that year was identical with the one described and authorized by our present Article 5960. Acts of 1876, p.29. Obviously, the use of the term 'engraved" in Article 5960 to denote the means by which the device or design was to be made to appear on such seal, referred only to the instrument therein designated as a seal of office to be provided by each notary public and~used to authenticate all his official acts, and did not refer to the impression of such seal made to appear J on any i?i&?ument of writing being authenticated thereby. t.5 The word "engrave" is defined in Webster's Third New International Dictionary as meaning: "to produce (as letters, figures, or devices) by means of Incised line,s,spaces or points." The word "incised", used in the foregoing definition, is defined by Webster as: "made with or as if with a sharp knife or scalpel: clean and well defined." -4142- Honorable Henry Wade, Page 3 (M-853) We can see no deviation from the next foregoing definition of the process of engraving in the construction of an ,ordinary rubber stamp, as describe~din your question, which bears the insignia and words properly placed thereon according to the statute involved. Undoubtedly, in order for the stamp to print a legible ink impression on an instrument, the device thereon necessarily would have to have been produced on the rubber face of the stamp by some means as if with a sharp knife: clean and well defined. The actual means of producing such lines on the rubber stamp, whether by casting, moulding, etching, carving or otherwise, are of no consequence, as it is the character of the lines produced that constitutes engraving, not the means of their production nor even the character of material upon which such lines are produced, according to the general sense of Webster’s definitions. A word of caution, however, is here directed to the users of such stamps. An indelible ink pad would seem to be necessary for transferring the impression of such type of seal onto an instrument of writing in order to complete the act of authentication envisaged by the statute - that is, an impression of some degree of durability which would tend to avoid the fact question raised in the early case of Stooksberr v. Swan (civ.app.1893) 21 SW 694; (Tex.Sup.Ct.1893) 22 SW &3. In view of the foregoing, it is the Opinion of this office that your question should be answered in the af’firmative.:. SUMMARY A seal of office of a notary public fashioned as rubber stamp engraved as defined in Article 5960, V.C.S., is authorized by the statute and an indelibly inked imprint thereof impressed upon a proper instrument by such notary public to authenticate his official act is sufficient in law to constitute the use of his official seal of office thereon. .? Yodrs very trulry, -4143- Honorable Henry Wade, Page 4 (M-853) Prepared by R. L. Lattlmore Assistant Attorney General APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Kerns Taylor, Chairman W. E.'Allen, Co-Chairman Austin Bray Marietta McGregor Payne Jay Floyd Brandon Bickett MEADE F. GRIFFIN Staff Legal Assistant ALFRED WALKER Executive Assistant NOLA WHITE First Assistant -4144- .