Attestation

“ The subscription of their names denotes that they were present at and prepared to prove the due execution of the instrument so attested, and nothing more. The attestation is the act of the witnesses, and it was not intended to confide to them the duty of stamping their testimony upon the paper; which would avail nothing as evidence, however perfect, and which ought to create no estoppel, however imperfect. ”

“ If it is proved that there is no attesting witness alive, and capable of giving evidence, then it is sufficient to prove that the attestation of at least one attesting witness is in his handwriting, and that the signature of the person executing the document is in the handwriting of that person. ”

“ The execution of a document which requires attestation can be proved in no other way than by the testimony of an attesting witness, unless owing to death or some other circumstance his testimony is unavailable. ”

“ But here the certificate was a wholly unofficial act, and we see no objection to disregarding the words 'Vice Consul of the United States,' and treating it as an acknowledgment of the execution before a competent witness. The acknowledgment of a will is really a feature of the attestation. The statute did not require that the devisor should sign the will in the presence of the witness, but that the witness should sign in the presence of the testator. ”

“ Whenever the act of any state, whether legislative, executive, or judiciary, shall be attested and exemplified under the seal thereof, such attestation and exemplification shall be deemed in other states as full proof of the existence of that act ”

“ They do not include the evidence of enactment, nor do they contain the attestation of those officers whose signatures are essential. These are constituent parts of every legislative act. They are all upon the original rolls. ”

“ In proportion as we approach the time of the autograph, the weight of composite attestation as against homogeneous attestation increases; partly because the plurality of proximate originals usually implied in composite attestation carries with it the favourable presumption afforded by the improbability of a plurality of scribes arriving independently at the same alteration ”

“ The unwritten must be by the parol testimony of experts. As to the manner of authenticating the law, there is no general rule, except this: that no proof shall be received, 'which presupposes better testimony behind, and attainable by the party.' They may be verified by an oath, or by an exemplification of a copy, under the great seal of a State, or, by a copy, proved to be a true copy by a witness who has examined and compared it with the original, or by a certificate of an officer, properly authorized, by law, to give the copy; which certificate must be duly proved. ”

“ The seal of the State proves itself, and may also prove the truth of the certificate which it purports to sanction, but that certificate ought to show, in its terms, that it was affixed by some one having authority to affix it. ”

“ Paragraph 3- What is the verification process? The witnesses of the document come and testify in front of three judges- who may even be laymen- that this is their signature and the judges will write on the bottom, “we were three who sat as one and so and so and so and so came and testified in front of us regarding their signatures and it became clear to us that this is their signatures. We uphold and affirm as is appropriate,” and they sign on bottom. ”

“ As the defendant's assignment of errors, to which the stipulation and certificate refer, brought in question the sufficiency of the evidence to support the judgment, the conclusion is unavoidable that counsel when entering into the stipulation and the trial judge when giving the certificate understood that all the evidence was material to the solution of that question, and that they used the terms appearing in the stipulation and certificate as comprehending not merely a part of the evidence, but all of it. ”

“ Beyond all doubt, the certificate of the clerk and the seal of the court is a sufficient authentication of the record of a judgment rendered in a State court, when offered in evidence in the Circuit Court sitting within the same State where the judgment was rendered. ”

“ The requirement of authentication or identification as a condition precedent to admissibility is satisfied by evidence sufficient to support a finding that the matter in question is what its proponent claims.
(b) Illustrations. By way of illustration only, and not by way of limitation, the following are examples of authentication or identification conforming with the requirements of this rule:
(1) Testimony of witness with knowledge. Testimony that a matter is what it is claimed to be. ”

“ Comparison of signature, writing or seal with others admitted or proved In order to ascertain whether a signature, writing or seal is that of the person by whom it purports to have been written or made, any signature, writing or seal admitted or proved to the satisfaction of the Court to have been written or made by that person may be compared with the one which s to be proved, although that signature, writing, or seal has not been produced or proved for any other purpose. ”

“ If the grantor was not known to the officer taking the acknowledgment, the law required that the deed should be proved by satisfactory evidence, and that the substance of the evidence, with the names of the witnesses, should be incorporated in the certificate of acknowledgment. ”

“ But in the case at bar the certificate not only begins with setting out the name and office of the clerk as the maker of the certificate, but has appended to it the seal of the court, and lacks only the clerk's signature to make it conform to the best precedents. ”

“ The signature of an attorney or party constitutes a certificate by the signer that the signer has read the pleading, motion, or other paper; that to the best of the signer's knowledge, information, and belief formed after reasonable inquiry it is well grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law, and that it is not interposed for any improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation. ”

“ This certificate, then, is a confession, in terms, that the entire act of the Governor is not given, but that the document is incomplete.
The rule of evidence is, with regard to copies, that they must be complete, and must be properly authenticated. Records are never allowed to be adduced in evidence, unless they are perfect records. It is never permitted to garble them, nor to read parts of them, or extracts from them, as evidence. ”

“ This certificate refers to certain laws of the company, and these laws declare, that such certificate shall be complete evidence of title, that the assignee shall become a member of the company, authorized to vote, on having his assignment recorded in books kept for that purpose. These certificates are offered to the public; confiding to the promise they contain, an individual becomes a purchaser, has his assignment recorded, and is received, without objection, as a member. ”

“ Suppose, however, that it appeared that the land warrant had been in the possession of her brother, from its date to the time when the testatrix died, still it would be difficult, if not impossible, to hold that the signification of the word certificates, as used in the will, is sufficiently comprehensive to include that instrument, as the word certificate seems to have an appropriate and direct reference to the instruments of evidence issued to the testatrix for the back pay and subsistence accounts of her former husband, as before explained. ”

“ It is not necessary, it is true, that the recital should enumerate each particular fact essential to the existence of the obligation. A general statement that the bonds have been issued in conformity with the law will suffice, so as to embrace every fact which the officers making the statement are authorized to determine and certify. A determination and statement as to the whole series, where more than one is involved, is a determination and certificate as to each essential particular. ”

“ The certificate of the clerk is but prim a facie evidence of the issuing and allowance of the writ of error; whereas, the production of the writ of error, with the citation, is the highest evidence of the fact, that the writ of error has been duly sued out and allowed. ”

“ The holder of such certificate will be required when he makes his homestead affidavit, or, if a soldier or soldier's agent, when he files a declaratory statement at the district office, to allege under oath before the officers taking such homestead affidavit or to whom said declaratory statement is presented for filing that all the statements contained in the declaration made by him, upon which said certificate is based, are true in every particular, such oath to be added to affidavit of Form 4-102, as shown on form hereto attached and made a part hereof marked 102d. ”

“ Prior to authentication of the record by the military judge, sealed materials may not be examined in the absence of an order from the military judge based on good cause shown. (3) Authentication through action. After authentication and prior to disposition of the record of trial pursuant to Rule for Courts-Martial 1111, sealed materials may not be examined in the absence of an order from the military judge upon a showing of good cause at a post-trial Article 39a session directed by the Convening Authority. ”

“ The certificate referred to in the words 'taking and certifying depositions to file' is that required by sections 863, 864, 865, 866, and 873, to be appended to depositions taken de bene esse in civil cases depending in the district or circuit court, which includes the circumstances with reference to the witness authorizing his deposition to be taken, the official ch racter of the person taking it, the proof of reasonable notice to the opposite party, the fact that the witness was cautioned and sworn to testify to the whole truth, and other similar requirements. ”

“ The motion must be denied. Proof that the papers alleged to be wanting were used in the court below, and have been lost, must be made by affidavit. The certificate of the clerk who made the transcript cannot be received as proper evidence of these facts. ”

“ It is elementary that the certificate of a court of last resort of a state may not import a Federal question into a record where otherwise such question does not arise; it is equally elementary that such a certificate may serve to elucidate the determination whether a Federal question exists. ”

“ Every person who refuses or fails without reasonable excuse to give or send any certificate in accordance with his duty, and every person required to give any information concerning any death or any dead body who wilfully refuses to answer any question put to him by the registrar relating to the particulars required to be registered, or fails to comply with any requisition of the registrar in pursuance of his duties, will be liable to a similar penalty. ”

“ And further we command the man who shall show them this our patent, to cite them to appear before us in our court, wheresoever we may be, within fifteen days from the day of citation, under the said penalty, under which we command every public scrivener who may be summoned for this purpose, to give to the person who shall show it to him a certificate thereof signed with his signature, whereby we may know in what manner our command is executed. ”

“ If this be the correct interpretation of the statute, we answer that the certificate to the deed in question did, in substance, conform, when read in connection with the deed itself, to the requirements of that law. In aid of the certificate reference may be had to the instrument itself, or to any part of it. It is the policy of the law to uphold certificates when substance is found, and not to suffer conveyances, or the proof of them, to be defeated by technical or unsubstantial objections. ”

“ When said writing is certified and registered in the manner hereinbefore prescribed, and it be proven to the court that said writing is lost, or that it is not in the hands of the party wishing to use it, then the record of the same, or a transcript of said record, certified to by the recorder under his seal of office, may be read as evidence without further proof.' Chapter 2, tit. ”

“ The office of the certificate, as it respects the Federal question, is to make more certain and specific what is too general and indefinite in the record, but is incompetent to originate the question within the true construction of the 25th section. ”

“ The word great is not in the exception, and as the whole matter thus set out is made part of the bill of exceptions, by referring to it, it will be seen that the seal is only appended to the governor's certificate to the character of the officer who certifies it ”

“ Assuming, what does not appear in the record, that the evidence stated in the bills of exceptions was all the evidence introduced at the trial and referred to in the certificate of division, that certificate is clearly insufficie t to support the jurisdiction of this court. ”

“ The clerk certifies the transcript sent up to be 'a true, full, and perfect copy from the record of all the proceedings in the suit.' Certainly this is sufficient for all the purposes of jurisdiction. If, in point of fact, the certificate is not true, the remedy is by certiorari to supply deficiencies, and not by motion to dismiss. ”

“ The President shall issue to every person so appointed a certificate of the appointment and authority of such person, and such certificate shall be received in evidence in all courts within the United States. ”