Receipt - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

'RECEIPT (M.E.' receite, derived through Fr. from Lat. recepta, participle of recipere, to receive), in law, an acknowledgment in writing that a sum of money or other valuable considered has been received by the person signing the acknowledgment in discharge of a debt or other obligation. Such a receipt is prima facie evidence only of payment, and it may be shown, for example, that it was signed by mistake, or obtained by fraud or misrepresentation. By the Stamp Act of 1891, which repealed and re-enacted other acts, a duty of id. is imposed on every receipt or form of writing discharging a debt of £2 or upwards; the payment of the duty is denoted by affixing a penny stamp to the document, and the cancelling of the same by the person giving the receipt. By § 103 if a person gives a receipt, liable to duty, not duly stamped, or refuses to give a receipt, liable to duty, duly stamped or, on payment to the amount of £2 or upward, gives a receipt for a less sum than £2 or divides the amount paid with intent to evade the duty, he is liable to a fine of £10. A receipt not duly stamped may be stamped at the Inland Revenue Office within fourteen days on payment of a fine of £5 or within one month on payment of £10.