Stamp Act 1891

Miscellaneous

117 Conditions and agreements as to stamp duty void

Every condition of sale framed with the view of precluding objection or requisition upon the ground of absence or insufficiency of stamp upon any instrument executed after the sixteenth day of May one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, and every contract, arrangement, or undertaking for assuming the liability on account of absence or insufficiency of stamp upon any such instrument or indemnifying against such liability, absence, or insufficiency, shall be void.

118 Assignment of policy of life assurance to be stamped before payment of money assured

(1) No assignment of a policy of life insurance shall confer on the assignee therein named, his executors, administrators, or assigns, any right to sue for the moneys assured or secured thereby, or to give a valid discharge for the same, or any part thereof, unless the assignment is duly stamped, and no payment shall be made to any person claiming under any such assignment unless the game is duly stamped.

(2) If any payment is made in contravention of this section, the stamp duty not paid upon the assignment, together with the penalty payable on stamping the same, shall be a debt due to Her Majesty from the person by whom the payment is made.

119 Instruments relating to Crown property

Except where express provision to the contrary is made by this or any other Act, an instrument relating to property belonging to the Crown, or being the private property of the sovereign, is to be charged with the same duty as an instrument of the same kind relating to property belonging to a subject.

120 As to instruments charged with duty of 35s

Any instrument which by any Act passed before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one and not relating to stamp duties, is specifically charged with the duty of thirty-five shillings, shall be chargeable only with the duty of ten shillings in lieu of the said duty of thirty-five shillings.

121 Recovery of penalties

All fines imposed by this Act are to be sued for and recovered by information in the High Court in England in the name of the Attorney General for England, in Scotland in the name of the Lord Advocate, and in Ireland in the name of the Attorney General for Ireland.

122 Definitions

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

• The expression " Commissioners " means Commissioners of Inland Revenue :

• The expression " material " includes every sort of material upon which words or figures can be expressed :

• The expression " instrument " includes every written document:

• The expression " stamp " means as well a stamp impressed by means of a die as an adhesive stamp:

• The expression " stamped," with reference to instruments and material, applies as well to instruments and material impressed with stamps by means of a die as to instruments and material having adhesive stamps affixed thereto:

• The expressions " executed " and " execution, " with reference to instruments not under seal, mean signed and signature :

• The expression " money " includes all sums expressed in British or in any foreign or colonial currency :

• The expression " stock " includes any share in any stocks or funds transferable at the Bank of England or at the Bank of Ireland, and India promissory notes, and any share in the stocks or funds of any foreign or colonial state or government, or in the capital stock or funded debt of any county council, corporation, company, or society in the United Kingdom, or of any foreign or colonial corporation, company, or society :

• The expression " marketable security " means a security of such a description as to be capable of being sold in any stock market in the United Kingdom :

• The expression " steward " of a manor includes deputy steward.

(2) In the application of this Act to Scotland expressions referring to the High Court shall be construed as referring to the Court of Session sitting as the Court of Exchequer.