STAMPS, STAMP ACTS. Stamps are impressions made upon paper or parchment by the government or its officers for the purposes of revenue. They always denote the price of the particular stamp, or in other words, the tax levied upon a particular instrument stamped, and sometimes they denote the nature of the instrument itself. if the instrument is written upon paper, the stamp is impressed in relief upon the paper itself; but to a parchment instrument the stamp is attached by paste and a small piece of lead which itself forms part of the impression. These stamps are easily forged, and at various times forgeries of them upon a large scale have been discovered. The punishment for the forgery of stamps was long a capital offence; it is now punishable by imprisonment or penal servitude.
In France stamps are used both for the authentication of instruments and as a source of revenue : thus they constitute a large part of the income of the municipality of Paris.
The stamp tax was first introduced into this country in the reign of William and Mary, such an impost having previously existed in Holland. The act 5 W. & M., c. 21, imposes stamps upon grants from the crown, diplomas, contracts, probates of wills and letters of administration, and upon all writs, proceedings, and records in courts of law and equity; it does not however seem to impose stamps upon deeds, unless these are enrolled in the courts at Westminster or other courts of record. Two years afterwards, however, conveyances, deeds, and leases were subjected to the stamp duty, and by a series of acts in the succeeding reigns every instrument recording a transaction between two individuals was subjected to a stamp duty before it could be used in a court of justice. By the 38 Geo. III. chap. 78, a stamp duty was imposed on newspapers (which was only taken off a few years ago), [NEWSPAPERS], and by an act of Geo. IV., inventories and appraisements are required to be stamped. Stamps are also used as a convenient method of imposing upon a particular class of persons thus, articles of apprenticeship are subject to duty, and so are articles of clerkship to a solicitor. Solicitors and conveyancers are required to take out annually a stamped certificate, and before a person commences practice as a physician, an advocate, a barrister-at law, or an attorney, he must pay a tax, under the form of a stamp upon an admission. Notaries public, bankers, pawnbrokers, and others
must obtain a yearly licence in order to exercise their callings.
It is only possible thus generally to point out the nature of the things subject to stamps, as these have varied frequently, and are subject indeed to constant change. It is enough to refer to the stamps on newspapers and letters as an example. And it may be added here that it is only recently that the system of levying a tax by means of stamps on legal proceedings has been revived, after having been abandoned for a great many years.
The general principle which regulates the courts in the interpretation of the stamp acts is, that on the one hand fraudulent evasion of the stamp duties shall be punished by forfeiture of all benefit from the document which ought to have been stamped; and, on the other hand, that a just claim shall not be evaded or a fraud be effected because the just claimant has unintentionally violated the stamp laws. Accordingly almost all instruments requiring stamps (except bills and notes) may be stamped on payment of a penalty; and all courts of civil justice are authorised to receive the unstamped instrument when tendered in evidence, on deposit of the amount of the stamp and penalty. Bills and notes cannot be stamped after they are made ; a provision intended to prevent fraud in the use of these important instruments of com merce.
An unstamped instrument, though in general inadmissible, may be used as evidence to defeat fraud, and, with certain limitations, to establish a criminal charge. Thus, where an unstarnped agreement contained matter not requiring a stamp, it was used as evidence of that matter, although invalid as evidence of the terms of the agreement. An indictment for forgery likewise may be maintained, although the instrument forged may be invalid for want of a proper stamp ; but such an invalid instrument is not sufficient to support an indictment for larceny.
The stamp duties and the custody of the dies aro placed under the superintendence of commissioners, who transact their business in Somerset House, London. It may not be out of place to remark that the endeavour to impose stamp duties upon our American colonies in 1765, was one of the proximate causes of the American revolution.