Exhibit 31.1


                         RULE 13a-14(a) CERTIFICATION IN
                           ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 302
                        OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Timothy C. Tuff, Chief Executive Officer of John H. Harland Company (the
"Company"), certify that:

   1.  I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of the
       Company;

   2.  Based on my knowledge, this annual report does not contain any
       untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a
       material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light
       of the circumstances under which such statements were made,
       not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
       annual report;

   3.  Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
       financial information included in this annual report, fairly
       present in all material respects the financial condition,
       results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of,
       and for, the periods presented in this annual report;

   4.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I are
       responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
       controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
       13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial
       reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
       15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

       a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
          such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
          our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to
          the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is
          made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
          during the period in which this report is being prepared;

       b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
          caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
          designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
          assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and
          the preparation of financial statements for external purposes
          in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

       c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
          controls and procedures and presented in this report our
          conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
          and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
          report based on such evaluation; and

       d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
          internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
          the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter that has materially
          affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
          registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and


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   5.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
       based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
       financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and to the
       audit committee of the registrant's board of directors:

       a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
          design or operation of internal control over financial
          reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
          registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report
          financial information; and

       b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
          other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
          internal control over financial reporting.

Date:  March 10, 2005

                                                    /s/ Timothy C. Tuff
                                                    -----------------------
                                                    Timothy C. Tuff
                                                    Chairman, President and
                                                    Chief Executive Officer