PRESIDENTIAL SEAL ACT, 1937

AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT, AS FROM THE COMING INTO OPERATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF IRELAND LATELY ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE, THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND SHALL HAVE A SEAL, AND TO MAKE PROVISION FOR MATTERS CONNECTED WITH SUCH SEAL AND FOR THE PROOF OF INSTRUMENTS MADE BY THE SAID PRESIDENT OR BY A COMMISSION EXERCISING HIS POWERS OR PERFORMING HIS FUNCTIONS. [25th November, 1937.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Commencement.

1.—This Act shall come into operation immediately after the coming into operation of the Constitution of Ireland lately enacted by the people.

2 The presidential seal.

2.—(1) Immediately on the commencement of this Act, the Minister for Finance shall provide an official seal (in this Act referred to as the presidential seal) for the President.

• (2) The presidential seal shall be officially and judicially noticed and every order, commission, warrant, or other instrument sealed with the presidential seal shall, if such seal purports to be authenticated in accordance with this Act, be received in evidence without further proof and, in particular, it shall not be necessary to prove any signature affixed to such instrument for the purpose of such authentication or to prove the office or authority of the person whose signature such signature purports to be.

• (3) The presidential seal affixed to an order, commission, warrant, or other instrument shall be evidence, until the contrary is proved, that every (if any) advice, consultation, consent, or other thing which is, under the Constitution or otherwise by law, a condition precedent to the making of such instrument by the President was duly given, made, or done before such instrument was made by the President or, in the case of an instrument made by a Commission, by such Commission.

3 Custody, use, and authentication.

3.—(1) Until the first President enters upon his office the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

• (a) the Commission exercising, by virtue of Article 57 of the Constitution, the powers and functions of the President shall have the custody and control of the presidential seal;

• (b) the presidential seal shall be affixed to instruments made by the said Commission, and to no other instruments, and shall be so affixed by direction of the said Commission and not otherwise;

• (c) the presidential seal when affixed to an instrument under this section shall be authenticated by the signatures (affixed to such instrument) of at least two members of the said Commission and of the secretary or other officer of the said Commission authorised in that behalf by the said Commission.

• (2) Whenever and so long as there is an elected President in office, exercising and performing the powers and functions of his office, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

• (a) the President shall have the custody and control of the presidential seal;

• (b) the presidential seal shall be affixed to instruments made by the President, and to no other instruments, and shall be so affixed by direction of the President and not otherwise;

• (c) the presidential seal when affixed to an instrument under this section shall be authenticated by the signature (affixed to such instrument) of the President.

• (3) Whenever and so long as a Commission constituted under Article 14 of the Constitution is exercising and performing the powers and functions of the President in accordance with that Article, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

• (a) the said Commission shall have the custody and control of the presidential seal;

• (b) the presidential seal shall be affixed to instruments made by the said Commission, and to no other instruments, and shall be so affixed by direction of the said Commission and not otherwise;

• (c) the presidential seal when affixed to an instrument under this section shall be authenticated by the signatures (affixed to such instrument) of at least two members of the said Commission and of the secretary or other officer of the said Commission authorised in that behalf by the said Commission.

4 Proof of presidential instruments.

4.—(1) Prima facie evidence of any order, commission, warrant or other instrument issued or made by the President or by a commission exercising the powers or performing the functions of the President may be given in all Courts of Justice and in all legal proceedings by the production of a copy of the Iris Oifigiúil purporting to contain such instrument or by the production of a copy of such instrument purporting to be printed under the superintendence or authority of and to be published by the Stationery Office.

• (2) Section 6 of the Documentary Evidence Act, 1925 (No. 24 of 1925), shall apply to every order, commission, warrant or other instrument issued or made by the President or by a commission exercising the powers or performing the functions of the President in like manner as it applies to the official documents mentioned in that section.

• (3) In this section, the expression “the Stationery Office” has the same meaning as it has in the Documentary Evidence Act, 1925 (No. 24 of 1925).

5 Expenses.

5.—All expenses incurred in the execution of this Act shall to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

6 Short title.

6.—This Act may be cited as the Presidential Seal Act, 1937.