Seals
50Common seal
(1)Notwithstanding any enactment or rule of law, a registered society need not have a common seal.
(2)A registered society which has a common seal must have its registered name engraved in legible characters on the seal.
(3)A registered society which decides to have a common seal must not cause such a seal to be made unless its registered rules contain provision for the custody and use of that seal.
(4)An officer of a registered society, or a person acting on behalf of a registered society, commits an offence if the officer or person uses or authorises the use of a seal purporting to be the society’s common seal which does not have the society’s registered name engraved in legible characters on it.
(5)A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
51Power of society to have official seal for use abroad
(1)This section applies to a registered society if—
(a)it has a common seal, and
(b)its objects require or comprise the transaction of business in foreign countries.
(2)The society may, if authorised by its registered rules, have an official seal for use in any territory, district, or place outside the United Kingdom.
(3)An “official seal” is a facsimile of the society’s common seal with the addition on its face of the name of every territory, district or place where it is to be used.
(4)The official seal, when duly affixed to a document, has the same effect as the society’s common seal.
52Authorisation of use of official seal
(1)If a registered society has an official seal, it may authorise any person appointed for the purpose as respects any territory, district or place appearing on the face of that seal to affix it to any deed or other document to which the society is party there.
(2)An authorisation for the purposes of subsection (1) must be given—
(a)in the case of a society whose registered office is in Scotland, by writing subscribed or authenticated in accordance with the Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995;
(b)in any other case, by writing under the society’s common seal.
(3)As between the society and a person dealing with such an agent, the agent’s authority continues—
(a)if a period is mentioned in the authorisation, during that period, or
(b)if no period is mentioned there, until notice of the revocation or determination of the agent’s authority has been given to the person dealing with the agent.
(4)The person affixing the official seal must certify in writing on the deed or other instrument to which the seal is affixed the date on which and the place at which it is affixed.