Order 78 - Deposit of Powers of Attorney
1. An instrument creating or revoking a power of attorney may be deposited in or filed at the Central Office if it be verified in accordance with rule 2, and accompanied by the affidavit, declaration or other document or documents (if any) by which the execution has been verified.
2. (1) The execution of any such instrument may be verified:
(a) by an affidavit or statutory declaration sworn or made by the attesting witness or some other person in whose presence the instrument was executed, or if no such person is available, by some impartial person who knows the signature of the grantor; or
(b) if the instrument was executed outside the area of the jurisdiction of the Court before a notary public by a notarial certificate complying with the provisions of paragraph (2) of this rule; or
(c) by any other evidence which, in the opinion of the Master, is sufficient.
(2) A notarial certificate of the execution of an instrument shall be annexed to the instrument. Where the certificate is the certificate of a notary public appointed to act for any part of the British Commonwealth of Nations or any British possession, judicial notice shall be taken of the seal and signature of such notary, affixed, impressed or subscribed to or on any such certificate without further proof; but in any other case the signature of the notary public and the fact that he holds such office shall be verified in the United States of America by the certificate of the county clerk within whose area the notary practices and elsewhere shall be authenticated by a judge or a court having jurisdiction in the place where the instrument was executed or by an Irish diplomatic or consular representative or agent exercising his functions in the country or place in which it was executed.
(3) Judicial notice shall be taken of the seal and signature of the persons hereinbefore authorised to authenticate a notarial certificate.
3. An alphabetical index of the names of the donors of all powers of attorney shall be prepared and kept in the Central Office and where an instrument revoking a power of attorney is deposited, the fact of such revocation shall be noted on the index. Any person may search the index on payment of the prescribed fee.
4. No person shall take copies of or extracts from any such instruments. Attested copies of such instruments shall be supplied on payment of the prescribed fee.
5. An attested copy of an instrument supplied under this Order shall be accepted as sufficient evidence of the contents of such instrument, and of the deposit thereof in the Central Office, and shall be prima facie evidence of the due execution of such instrument.