The deposit receipt itself, that is, the receipt given by the banker, is exempt from stamp duty. The exemption granted by the Stamp Act, 1S91 (see under RECEIPT), is as follows :—" Receipt given for money de posited in any bank, or with any banker, to be accounted for and expressed to be received of the person to whom the same is to be accounted for." Where a deposit receipt is renewed for a larger amount, some bankers are satisfied with an indorsement " amount increased. John Brown." In such a case a stamp is not necessary, but if the printed form of receipt is signed, it must be stamped.
Deposit receipt forms are usually bound with counterfoils in books, and are numbered consecutively, each counterfoil bearing the same number as the corresponding receipt. In some banks the counterfoil, filled up with particulars of a receipt which is being issued, is signed by the depositor.
The clerk who writes out a deposit receipt should do so from the application form, and particulars should also be. entered upon the counterfoil which remains in the book of receipt forms ; indeed, it is a good plan to write up the counterfoil first. Before the receipt is signed by the manager or other authorised official, both the receipt and the counterfoil should be compared by another clerk with the application form and initialled, if correct. It is better to make out a new receipt than to issue one with any material alteration. A slovenly written receipt should not be issued from any bank office.
A receipt form spoiled in this way should not be destroyed, but kept for reference ; it may, conveniently, be pinned behind its counterfoil.
Where a receipt has been lost, an in demnity should be required before the money is paid or a fresh receipt issued. Paget says (page 31, " The Law of Banking"), " a deposit receipt not being a negotiable instru ment, the bank is not entitled to exact an indemnity from the depositor before paying him, if he has lost the receipt." A banker is released by the Statute of Limitations from liability on a deposit receipt more than six years old, and in regard to which he has not meanwhile acknowledged the depositor's claim by payment of interest or in anv other \\ ay, but no banker ever thinks of setting up this right. Deposit receipts are always paid, however old they may be, on satisfactory proof of the identity of the depositor or his legal representatives.
About forty years ago deposit receipts in joint names were sometimes cut in two, where there were two depositors, and each person took a half. If a receipt was drawn in the names of three persons, the document was cut into three pieces, and each party received a piece. When repayment was required, each party had to take the portion in his possession to the bank and indorse it. When the banker received the three pieces he fastened them together and then paid the money.