The question, under which the alteration was made. (m) whether the alleged circumstances existed, may be one for the jury to determine; but it is for the court to say, as matter of law, whether the alterations invalidate the instrument. (n) Policies of life insurance are taxed twenty-five cents where the amount insured does not exceed one thousand dollars, fifty cents where not exceeding five thousand, and one dollar where the amount is over five thousand. Deposit notes to mutual life-insurance companies, upon which stamped policies are based, are not liable to stamp duty. (0) Tickets of insurance issued to travellers, against fatal or non-fatal injury, are exempted from stamp duties by an amendment to the original statute. (p) It is held in England, that a policy of insurance on the lives of cattle should be stamped, under the clause taxing policies "made upon any property or interest whatever, from loss or damage of any kind." (q) Probably the clause in our statute, requiring a stamp on policies of insurance on property, against "perils of any kind," would receive the same application. SECTION VII. STAMPS ON CERTIFICATES, SPECIAL AND GENERAL. Certificates of stock in any incorporated company, certifi cates of deposit of any sum of money, certificates of damage or otherwise, and all others issued by port wardens or marine surveyors, are liable to special stamp duties; and certificates of any other description, to a five cent stamp. (r) By an amendment to the statute, certificates of weight and measure, certificates of record of deeds, and of their acknowledgment or proof by attesting witnesses, are specially exempted. (s) A certificate signed by a pledgor, setting forth that he had (m) London & Brighton R. Co. v. Fairclough, 2 M. & G. 675; 3 Scott, N. R. 68. (n) Bartlett v. Smith, 11 M. & W. 483. (0) Act of March 3, 1863, § 6. (p) Proviso to § 3, Act of March 3, 1863. (7) Atty.-Gen. v. Cleobury, 4 Exch. 65. deposited certain chattels as a pledge for a sum of money borrowed, and empowering the pledgee to sell in case the money was not returned by a specified day, has been held not to require a mortgage stamp, under the English statute. (t)` General certificates, as such, are not subject to stamp duty under the English acts. Under our statute the question may arise, whether certifying a check by a bank officer, requires a stamp. Such an act is regarded as equivalent to the acceptance of a draft, where the officer has authority to perform it; (u) and, as the check would be already stamped as the law requires for a sight draft, a second stamp would seem to be unnecessary. Neither would such a certificate come fairly within the meaning of the term "certificate of deposit," so as to require a second stamp under that head. It has been determined, by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, that the jurat to an affidavit, affixed by a justice of the peace, or other officer authorized to administer oaths, is subject to stamp duty as a certificate. (v) And the predecessor of the present Commissioner has given it as his opinion that a stamp is required upon every certificate which has or may have. a legal value in any court of law or equity. (w) Since the date of that decision (October, 1862), some certificates have been expressly exempted by Congress, as mentioned above. Unless the term "certificate" should be held to be applicable only to documents using the word "certify," we see not how any acknowledgment in writing, not specially exempt, as a carrier's receipt is exempted, (x) can escape stamp duty under this head. (t) In re Attenborough, 11 Exch. 461. (w) Boutwell's U. S. Tax System, 333. (x) Act of March 3, 1863, §§ 6, 10. SECTION VIII. STAMPS ON CONVEYANCE, MORTGAGE, AND OTHER DEEDS. By the United States statute, any "deed, instrument or writing, whereby any lands, tenements, or other realty sold, shall be granted, assigned, transferred or otherwise conveyed to, or vested in, the purchaser, or purchasers, or any other person or persons by his, her or their direction, when the consideration or value exceeds one hundred dollars," is subject to an ad valorem stamp duty. (y) And by an amendment to Schedule B, fixing the maximum amount of stamp duty to be paid upon any one conveyance, it is provided, that "no conveyance, deed, mortgage or other writing, whereby any lands, tenements, realty or other property shall be sold, granted, assigned or otherwise conveyed, or shall be made as security for the payment of any sum of money, shall be required to pay a stamp duty of more than one thousand dollars, any thing to the contrary notwithstanding." (z) It is obvious, from the very clear language of the statute, that the ad valorem stamp duty upon conveyances, applies only to estates that are bought and sold; for the word "sold" expressly qualifies the nature of the transaction, and the terms "purchaser" and "purchasers," are used in their ordinary sense, as designating the person effecting a bargain, and not in their technical legal sense, as indicating one who acquires land in any manner other than by descent or the mere act of law. And it is also evident, that no new duties upon conveyances, are imposed by the clause of the amendatory act above quoted. If the meaning of its language is not identical with the words of the original statute, the variation is only one in appearance, arising from the introduction of the word "mortgage" into the amendatory clause, and the consequent necessity of a different collo (y) Act of July 1, 1862, Sched. B. (z) Act of March 3, 1863, § 6 cation of the word "sold," in order to avoid the absurdity of speaking of a conveyance of "property sold," as one "made as security for the payment of any sum of money." But even if the meaning of the amendment, as applied to conveyances of real estate, should be held to be a substantial variation from the sense of the original statute, the utmost that it can be held to say, in reference to conveyances of real estate not sold, is, that no such conveyance shall be required to pay a stamp duty of more than a thousand dollars." As the original statute does not provide that conveyances of estates not sold shall pay an ad valorem duty, and as this amendment makes no such provisions in terms, it is quite clear that any argument which would go to prove that the amendatory clause imposes a stamp upon conveyances of real estate not sold, would lead to the absurd conclusion that such conveyances must, in all cases, bear a specific stamp of one thousand dollars. It may be observed, also, that the English stamp acts use the words "upon the sale," and "purchaser or purchasers," just as our statute does the words "sold," and "purchaser or purchasers," in describing what kinds of conveyances of real estate are subject to ad valorem stamp duties; (a) and that English decisions are uniform, to the effect that no conveyance of real property except upon a sale, is liable to an ad valorem stamp. (b) By the English act, a conveyance for any other purpose than sale or mortgage, is provided for by a specific stamp duty, with an ad valorem addition upon the amount of equality money in certain cases, where equality, above a specified amount, is paid. (c) Upon the considerations above advanced, we are clearly of opinion, that the United States stamp acts impose ad valorem duties only upon conveyances of real property that is sold or (a) 48 Geo. 3, c. 149; 55 Geo. 3, c. 184; 13 & 14 Vict. c. 97. (b) Henniker v. Henniker, 1 E. & B. 54; decides, that an exchange of lands upon which money is paid for equality of partition, is not a sale, within the terms of the stamp act; Denn v. Diamond, 4 B. & C. 243, decides, that a father's deed of estates to his son, in pursuance of a family arrangement for the benefit of his children, is not liable to ad valorem duty as a sale. See Belcher v. Sikes, 6 B. & C. 134; Mas sy v. Nauney, 3 Bing. N. R. 478; 4 Scott, 458; Blandy v. Herbert, 9 B. & C. 396; as to what will amount to a sale under the conveyance clause of the stamp act Coates v. Perry, 3 B. & B. 48, decides, that a conveyance to trustees for benefit of creditors by a debtor, with a resulting trust to himself, does not require an ad va lorem stamp, as upon a sale or mortgage, under 55 Geo. 3, c. 184. (c) 55 Geo. 3, c. 184. mortgaged, and that all other conveyances are left to be stamped under the general head of contracts or agreements. (d) We notice that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue has ruled, that a sheriff's deed to a creditor, of real estate levied upon under an execution; (e) an executor's, administrator's, or trustee's deed to heirs; (f) deeds of partition between heirs or other tenants in common; and conveyances in all ases whether by a "quitclaim" or a "warranty deed" (if the value of the property conveyed exceeds one hundred dollars), must be stamped with an ad valorem stamp, as prescribed under the head of "Conveyance." (g) Upon what ground these rulings are made, in view of the fact that the statute expressly uses the word "sold," we do not clearly see; for it is not every form of conveyance that even embraces the technical word "sell" in the operative clause. They are not in conformity with the law, upon any rules of construction we can see to be applicable to the subject. A conveyance of an estate sold subject to a mortgage, which is in fact a sale of an equity of redemption, would doubtless be properly stamped for the value of the interest thereby sold and conveyed, and would not require a stamp proportioned to the whole value of the estate. This is held to be the true construction of the English statute, (h) unless the vendee agrees to assume the mortgage as a part of the consideration for the sale, in which case there is a special provision that the stamp duty shall cover the amount of the mortgage also. (i) It is held in England, that a deed of confirmation of an inoperative deed that was duly stamped, does not require an ad valorem stamp, as for a sale of the property. (j) A deed purporting to be a conveyance of land, but inoperative as such, for want of a seal, and containing a stipulation not to disturb the |