Hon. P. W. Minter 

County Attorney 

Jim Hogg County 

Hebronville, Texas 

Dear Sir: 

Opinion No. O-5285 

Re: Necessity of seal to be attached 

to acknowledgments made by commissioned 

officers under H. B. 4, 48th Legislature 

of Texas. 

Your request for opinion has been received and carefully considered by this department. We quote from your request as follows: 

"I notice that H. B. No. 4, authorizing Commissioned 

Officers of the United States, to take acknowledgements 

of instruments of writing for record, was approved and became effective March jrd., 1943. However the same did 

not provide for any seal of the Officer taking the acknowledgment as contemplated by Art. 6606, R.C.S. 

"Please give me your opinion as to whether an ackknowledgment taken by such a Commissioned Officer, but 

without an Official Seal attached thereto, would be valid." 

H.B. 4 of the 48th Legislature of Texas, provides: 

"Section 1. Article 6602, Title 115, Chapter 2 of 

the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas of 1925 is hereby 

amended so as to hereafter read as follows:' 

"'Article 6602. 

"'The acknowledgment or proof of an instrument of 

writing for record may be made within this State before: 

='l. A clerk of the district court. 

W'2. A judge or clerk of the county court. 

11 3. A notary public. 

"'Without the State, but within the United States or 

their territories before: 

rr'l. A clerk of some court of record having a seal. 

11'2. A commissioner of deeds duly appointed under 

the laws of the State. 

n3. A notary public. 
. . - 

Hon. P. W. Minter, page 2 (O-5285) 

"'Without the United States before: 

"'1. A minister, a commissioner or charge d'affaires 

of the United States, resident and accredited in the country where the proof or acknowledgment is made. 

W'2, A consul-generals, consul, vicevconsul, commercial agent, vice-commercial agent, deputy consul or consular agent of the United States! resident in the country 

where proof or acknowledgment is made,. 

1, I 3. A notary public. 

"'The acknowledgment or proof of an instrument of writing for record may be made by a member of the Armed Forces 

of the United States or the Auxiliaries thereof without 

the territorial confines of the United States before the 

following: 

"'1. Any commissioned officer in the Armed Forces of 

the United States of America, in the Auxiliaries thereto, 

or any commissioned officer in the Armed Forces Reserve of 

the United States of America or any Auxiliary thereto.' 

"Set 2. The fact that many members of our Armed 

Forces whi are without the United States have no way to 

acknowledge legal documents and instruments for record 

creates an emergency and an imperative public necess:ity 

that the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to be read on 

three several days in each House be suspended, and such 

Rule is hereby suspended, and this Act shall take effect 

and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so 

enacted," 

The act became effective March 3> 1943. 

10 U.S.C.A., 5 1586, as amended December 14, 1942, 

provides: 

"Any officer of any component of the Army of the 

United S+,ates on active duty in Federal service commissioned in or assigned or detailed to duty with the Judge 

Advocate General's Department, any staff j~udge advocate 

or acting staff judge advocate, the President of a gen-, 

era1 or special court-martial, any summary court-martial, 

the trial judge advocate or any assis tant trial judge 

advocate of a general or special court-martial, the 

president or the recorder of a court of inquiry or of a 

military board, any officer designated to take a deposition, any officer detailed to conduct an investigation, 
Hon. P. W. Minter, page 3 (O-5285) 

and the adjutant, assistant adjutant or personnel adjutant of any command shall have power to administer oaths 

for the purposes of the administration of military justice and for other purposes of military admfnistration; 

and shall also have the general powers of a notary public in the administering of oaths, the execution and acknowledgment of legal instruments, the attestation of 

documents and all other forms of notarial acts to be 

executed by persons subject to military law8 povided, 

That no fee of any character shall be paid to any officer mentioned in this section for the performance of 

an 

c 

notarial act herein authorized. 

19 2, c. 730s 56 &at. 1050,” 

As amen,ded Dec. 14, 

Articles 6603, 6606 and 6607? Vernon's Annotated 

“The acknowledgment of an instrument of writing 

for the purpose of being recorded shall be by the grantor 

or person who executed the same appearing before some 

officer authorized to take such acknowledgment, and stating that he had executed the same for the consideration 

and purposes therein stated; and the officer taking such 

acknowledgment shall make a certificate thereof, si n 

and seal the same with his seal of office, (Acts 1 8 46, 

po 236; P.D. 5007; G.L. vol. 2, pe 1542.1’” 

“Art.. (c:CePtfffcateof 6606, 680 461 

"An officer taking the acknowledgment of a deed, OP 

other instrument of writing, must place thereon hfs offfcial certificate, signed by him and given under his, seal 

of office, substantially En form as hereinafter prescribed.'s 

"Art. 6607. (68041(4620) (4X2- 

"The form of an ordinary certificate of aeknowledgment must be substantially as follows: 

"'The State of 9 

"'County of -9 

"'Before me (here insert the name and 

character of the officer) on this day personally appeared 

J 

known to me (or proved to me on the oath of 

to be the person whose name is subscribed 

to the foregofng Instrument and acknowledged ,to me that 

he executed the same for the purposes and consideration 

therein expressed. 

"(Seal) "'Given under my hand and seal of office this 

day of , A. D., B?" 
. . _ 

Hon. P. W. Minter, Page 4 (O-5285) 

Section 74, Acknowledgments, Seals, 1 Texas Jurisprudence, page 482, reads in part as follows: 

“S74 0 Necessity for .--Although a contrary rule prevailed prior to 1846, since that year it has been the 

law, by virtue of express enactment 

of acknowledgment must be under sea i 

that a certificate 

. The present statute in this respect provides that 'the officer taking 

such acknowledgment shall make a certificate thereof, 

sign and seal the same with his seal of office.' 

"Omission of a seal renders a certificate of acknowledgment fatally defective; an instrument so certified is not entitled to be recorded, and if improperly 

recorded the record will not impart constructive notice. 

While a conveyance of property by one other than a marfled woman is, notwithstanding the omission of a seal 

from the certificate of acknowledament. valid as between 

the parties, such an omission in %he deed of a married 

woman renders the conveyance void. 

'1. . * e" 

We have been 

statute authorizing or 

unable to find any Federal or Texas ~ I o ~ . ^^~ requiring a commisslonee or~ricer to use 

any type of seal in taking acknowledgments as outlined in H.B. 

4, supra. 

In construing the amendment to H.B. 4, supra, wherein the commissioned officers mentioned therein are authorized 

to take acknowledgments or proof of an instrument of writing 

for record of members of the armed forces outside the territorial confines of the United States, we must assume that the 

Legislature of Texas knew that such commissioned officers had 

no seal. The emergency clause of H.B. 4, quoted above clearly 

shows that the Legislature of Texas was desirous of pr8viding 

a method for the taking of acknowledgments of the members of 

our armed forces outside the confines of the United States. 

The question is not without difficulty yet we are 

constrained to believe that the courts would hold such instruments valid in the absence of a seal inasmuch as no seal is 

provided for. To hold otherwise would render ,the act of the 

Legislature futile and condemn through strict artificial teehnicality a very worthwhile and necessary piece of emergency 

legislation. This we are unwilling to do. 

It is our opinion that pro acknowledgments taken 

by commissioned officers under H.B. supra, of members of 
Hon. P. W. Minter, page 5 (O-5285) 

our armed forces, taken outside the confines of the United 

States, without a seal being attached thereto, are valid. 

Very truly yours 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

/s/ By Wm. J. Fanning 

Wm. J. Fanning, Assistant 

0 APPROVED MAY 20, 1943 

/s/ Gerald C. Mann 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE 

BY: BWB;CHAIRMAN 

WJF:mptwb