Honorable Henry Wade 

District Attorney 

Dallas County Governmental 

Dallas, Texas 75202 

Dear Sir: 

Center 

Opinion No. ~-853 

Re : Whether a rubber stamp 

engraved as directed 

by Article 5960 V.C.S., 

may be used by a Notary 

Public as his official 

seal to validate his 

acts of office. 

You have requested from this office an official opinion 

on the following question: 

"Whether the authentication of his offkclal act. by a 

Notary Pub~lc'by'the use of a seal 'of.offi'ce"ma'de' 'by '~ 

the Imprint of a traditional rubber stamp~showlng a 

star of five points in the center and the words 

'Notary Public, County of , Texas' around the 

margin (the blank to be fllledth the name of the 

County for whY.ch the Officer Is appointed), thus, by 

the use ,of an ink pad, making apprinted Impression 

as opposed to the tradltlona.1 stamped or embossed 

impression, Is authorized under Article 5960, RCS." 

The controlling statute is Article 5960, Vernon's Texas 

Statutes which ,read~s as follows: 

"Each notary public shalI'provlde 'a seal of office, 

whereon shall be engraved in the ~center a star of 

five,~polnts, and the words, Notary Public, County 

Of Texas, around the margin (the blank 

to'be filled'wlth the name of the County.for.which 

the officer is appotnted),.and:he shall- authenticate' 

.,a11 his. official acts therewith." 

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Honorable Henry Wade, Page 2 (M-853) 

Such a statute Is subject to a liberal construction 

and a substantial compliance the,rewith obtains. 53 Tex. 

Jur 2d 298, Statutes, Sec. 194; also pages 16-17, Sec. 9. 

The specific directive of such statute is in regard to the text 

and form of a particular device or design to be engraved on 

the instrument referred to therein as a seal of office. 

Nothing in this statute or in the Constitution of Texas, nor 

in any other statute of this State or prior Constitution 

thereof, including the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, 

requires the use of any particular material in the construction 

of any seal, notarial or otherwise. 

The Chief Justices of the several county courts of the 

Republic of Texas were, ex officio, the first notaries public 

of the Republic and the first Congress thereof specified the 

seal to be used for such Courts, and for a notarial seal as 

well, to appear as follows: !'with the style of the Court 

around the margin thereof, and a star of five points in the 

centre." Laws of Texas, 1833-40, Vol. 1, p.151. 

The first Constitution of the State of Texas authorized 

the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to 

appoint a convenient number of notaries public, but no mention 

was made of a seal of office for such officers. The early laws 

of this State often referred to the official hand and seal of 

notaries public but we have been unable to find any statute 

prescribing a form for such seal until 1876. The notary public 

seal prescribed by statute in that year was identical with the 

one described and authorized by our present Article 5960. Acts 

of 1876, p.29. 

Obviously, the use of the term 'engraved" in Article 

5960 to denote the means by which the device or design was to 

be made to appear on such seal, referred only to the instrument 

therein designated as a seal of office to be provided by each 

notary public and~used to authenticate all his official acts, 

and did not refer to the impression of such seal made to appear J 

on any i?i&?ument of writing being authenticated thereby. t.5 

The word "engrave" is defined in Webster's Third New 

International Dictionary as meaning: "to produce (as letters, 

figures, 

points." 

or devices) by means of Incised line,s, spaces or 

The word "incised", used in the foregoing definition, 

is defined by Webster as: "made with or as if with a sharp 

knife or scalpel: clean and well defined." 

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Honorable Henry Wade, Page 3 (M-853) 

We can see no deviation from the next foregoing definition 

of the process of engraving in the construction of an ,ordinary 

rubber stamp, as describe~d in your question, which bears the 

insignia and words properly placed thereon according to the 

statute involved. Undoubtedly, in order for the stamp to print 

a legible ink impression on an instrument, the device thereon 

necessarily would have to have been produced on the rubber 

face of the stamp by some means as if with a sharp knife: 

clean and well defined. The actual means of producing such 

lines on the rubber stamp, whether by casting, moulding, 

etching, carving or otherwise, are of no consequence, as it is 

the character of the lines produced that constitutes engraving, 

not the means of their production nor even the character of 

material upon which such lines are produced, according to the 

general sense of Webster’s definitions. A word of caution, 

however, is here directed to the users of such stamps. An 

indelible ink pad would seem to be necessary for transferring 

the impression of such type of seal onto an instrument of 

writing in order to complete the act of authentication envisaged 

by the statute - that is, an impression of some degree of 

durability which would tend to avoid the fact question raised 

in the early case of Stooksberr v. Swan (civ.app.1893) 21 SW 

694; (Tex.Sup.Ct.1893) 22 SW &3. 

In view of the foregoing, it is the Opinion of this 

office that your question should be answered in the af’firmative. :. 

SUMMARY 

A seal of office of a notary public fashioned 

as rubber stamp engraved as defined in Article 5960, 

V.C.S., is authorized by the statute and an indelibly 

inked imprint thereof impressed upon a proper instrument 

by such notary public to authenticate his official 

act is sufficient in law to constitute the use of his 

official seal of office thereon. 

.? 

Yodrs very trulry, 

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Honorable Henry Wade, Page 4 (M-853) 

Prepared by R. L. Lattlmore 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Kerns Taylor, Chairman 

W. E.' Allen, Co-Chairman 

Austin Bray 

Marietta McGregor Payne 

Jay Floyd 

Brandon Bickett 

MEADE F. GRIFFIN 

Staff Legal Assistant 

ALFRED WALKER 

Executive Assistant 

NOLA WHITE 

First Assistant 

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