The Stamp tration Act. THE FIRST APPENDIX. THE Acts contained in the following Appendix have this in common. that all of them are now used for the purpose of raising money for the general purposes of the State. The Court Fees Act and the Stamp Act are avowedly measures of taxation. But the Registration Act was intended solely to provide safeguards against fraud and to facilitate investigations of title; and it is to be regretted that the financial needs of the Indian Government render it impossible at present to apply the fees levied under that Act, after defraying its necessary expenses, to increasing the number of registration-offices, so as ultimately to have one within easy reach of every inhabitant of British India. If this were done, the Act might be extended to many classes of instruments now excluded from the operation of its compulsory clauses; and the result would be, not merely a diminution of fraud, but a sensible increase to the selling value of land throughout the country. The objects and structure of the four Acts printed in this Appendix being clear and simple, we may dispense with an introduction to each enactment, and here merely state, first, that the Stamp Act is founded partly on the Indian Act XVIII of 1869, partly on the English Statutes The Regis- 33 & 34 Vic. cc. 97 and 98; and, secondly, that the Registration Act divides all documents into those that must be, and those that may be, registered and declares that no document required to be registered shall affect any immoveable property comprised therein, or be received in evidence of any transaction affecting such property, unless it has been registered; and that, as a rule, where the registration of a document relating to land is optional, such document, if registered, takes effect against all unregistered documents relating to the same property. Where registration is optional, as it is when the purchase money is less than rs. 100, the ingenious natives of British India avail themselves of this last provision to sell the same property twice over to different people, once by an unregistered conveyance to A, giving him possession, and a second time, when A happens to be out of possession, by a registered conveyance to B1. All documents admitted to registration are copied, indexed, and authenticated by the registering officers. An intending purchaser or mortgagee can thus at once find every non-testamentary instrument affecting a particular piece of land, and an effectual safeguard is provided against the suppression, destruction and fraudulent alteration of title-deeds. See 8 Cal. 597. lating to We may also mention the previous Indian laws dealing with the Former subjects to which the Stamp Act and the Registration Act respeclaws retively relate. The old Regulations and Acts as to court-fees1 are now stamps and mere matters of curiosity 2. But it is often necessary to ascertain registrawhether an ancient document has been duly stamped, or whether a tion. conveyance executed between 1793 and 1877 has been duly registered. For these purposes the following lists may be useful. 1 No institution fee has ever been paid in the Supreme Court, nor, under the original system of Lord Cornwallis, was there any such fee in the courts of the Company. The State defrayed the expense of all the judicial establishments. An institution fee, in the case of civil suits, was established by [Ben.] Regulation XXXVIII of 1795, not as a source of revenue, but, as appears from the preamble to the regulation, for the purpose of preventing vexatious litigation. By [Ben.] Reg. VI of 1797 the institution Reg. I of 1827. Act XXXVI of 1860. fees were converted into stamp duties 2 Many of them are enumerated in FEES IN THE HIGH COURTS AND IN THE COURTS OF SMALL CAUSES AT THE PRESIDENCY TOWNS. Levy of fees in High Courts on their original sides Levy of fees in Presidency Small Cause Courts Fees on documents filed etc. in High Courtsin their extraordinary jurisdiction in their appellate jurisdiction as Courts of reference and revision Procedure in case of difference as to necessity or amount of fee CHAPTER III. FEES IN OTHER COURTS AND IN PUBLIC OFFICES. Fees on documents filed etc. in provincial Courts or in public offices i. ii. iii. for money for maintenance and annuities for other moveable property having a market value iv. (a) for moveable property of no market-value (b) to enforce a right to share in joint family property ib. Fee on memorandum of appeal against order relating to compensation for lands acquired for public purpose Power to ascertain nett profits or market-value Procedure where nett profits or market-value wrongly estimated Procedure in suits for mesne profits or account when amount decreed Refund where Court reverses or modifies its former decision on ground of mistake Additional fee where respondent takes objection to unappealed part of decree Written examinations of complainants Multifarious suits Exemption of certain documents CHAPTER III A. 15 16 17 18 19 Relief where debts due from a deceased person have been paid out of his Probates declared valid as to trust property though not covered by Provision for case where too low a court-fee has been paid on probates, etc. 19E Administrator to give proper security before letters stamped under sec. 198 Executors not paying full court-fee on probates within six months after discovery of underpayment . 19 F Sections 19 A to 19 G applied to certificates under Acts XI of 1858 and XX of 1864 |