Execute and Executed - Indian Laws - General

Expression execute and executed The first interpretation of execution is supported by the definition provided in the Stamp Act 1899 Stamp Act . Section 2(12) defines executed and execution in the following terms: (12) Executed and execution.-- Executed and execution , used with reference to instruments, mean signed and signature and includes attribution of electronic record within the meaning of Section 11 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000); Black s Law Dictionary defines the expression execute and executed thus Bryan A Garner, Black s Law Dictionary (Thomson Reuters, 2009) pgs 649-650: execute, vb. (14c) 1. To perform or complete (a contract or duty) ...3. To make (a legal document) valid by signing; to bring (a legal document) into its final, legally enforceable form ... executed, adj. (16c) 1. (Of a document) that has been signed ... The term executed is a slippery word. Its use is to be avoided except when accompanied by explanation...A contract is frequently said to be executed when the document has been signed, or has been signed, sealed, and delivered. Further, by executed contract is frequently meant one that has been fully performed by both parties. William R. Anson, Principles of the Law of Contract 26 n.* (Arthur l. Corbin ed., 3d Am. ed. 1919). The expression execute has been further defined in Words and Phrases in the following terms Words and Phrases (Permanent Edition) (Thomson Reuters, 2020): To complete as a legal instrument; to perform what is required to give validity to. The definitions in both these dictionaries seem to once again suggest that the signing of a document can be equivalent to its execution. However, these definitions are by no means definitive and cannot be taken out of context, since they also do seem to suggest that executing an agreement is making it fully valid and legally enforceable. Mulla s The Registration Act (supra) notes the following in relation to the meaning of execution Supra at note 15, pgs 254-256: Admission of Execution ...It is submitted that the mere proof or admission that a person s signature appears on a document cannot by itself amount to execution of the document...Where a person had signed a document after being aware of the nature of the document, he has executed the document, and, it is submitted, the Registrar cannot go into the question whether the document has been obtained by coercion; but when a signature has been obtained by false representations and the ostensible executant did not sign with the intention of being bound by the terms of the document, such a person cannot be said to have executed the document. Similarly, S.P. Sen Gupta Commentary (supra) sets out the following position Supra at note 16, pgs 389-390, 390, 617-618: A document is liable to be set aside or declared inoperative by a civil court when it was not voluntarily executed. But that is an altogether different consideration nor coming within the jurisdiction of Registering Officer. The correct legal position seems to be that though the Registering Officer cannot take any decision as to the legality and validity of an instrument which has been presented for registration, there cannot be any admission of execution when the plea taken by the executant before the Registering Officer, if found true, would invalidate the deed. An execution does not mean merely signing but signing by way of assent to the terms embodied in the document. When the executant admits his signature on the document but takes a further plea that his signature was taken by force after detaining him in a room or fraud was practised upon him in obtaining his signatures on the deed or he was duped to sign on blank papers etc, and there is no material before the Registering Officer to rebut the plea of the executant, then there cannot be any admission within the meaning of Sections 35(1)(a) of the Act because the mind of the signer did not accompany the signature... This understanding of the phrase execution is also adopted by textbooks in relation to the law of evidence Section 68. 68. Proof of execution of document required by law to be attested. If a document is required by law to be attested, it shall not be used as evidence until one attesting witness at least has been called for the purpose of proving its execution, if there be an attesting witness alive, and subject to the process of the Court and capable of giving evidence: Provided that it shall not be necessary to call an attesting witness in proof of the execution of any document, not being a will, which has been registered in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Registration Act, 1908 (16 of 1908), unless its execution by the person by whom it purports to have been executed is specifically denied. of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 Evidence Act prescribes the requirement for proving that a document has been executed. The proviso to Section 68 stipulates that it shall not be necessary to call an attesting witness to prove the execution of a document if it has been registered under the Registration Act, provided that its execution is not specifically denied by the person who is purported to have executed it. In relation to this provision, Sarkar s Law of Evidence notes Sudipto Sarkar and Dr. H R Jhingta, Sarkar: Law of Evidence In India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Ceylon, Malaysia Singapore: Volume 1 (LexisNexis, 2016) : The term execution is not defined in any statute. It means completion, i.e., the last act or acts which complete a document and in English law this is known as signing, sealing and delivering. The ordinary meaning of executing a document is signing it as a consenting party thereto. [s 67.4] Meaning and Proof of Execution [...] Execution consists in signing a document written out and read over and understood and does not consist of merely signing a name upon a blank sheet of paper... Similarly, Ratanlal and Dhirajlal s treatise on the law of evidence states as follows N Vijayraghavan and Sharath Chandran, Ratanlal Dhirajlal: The Law of Evidence (LexisNexis, 2021): [s 67.3] Execution of Document -- Meaning [...] Execution of a document is something different from mere signing of the document. The term execution is not defined...The ordinary meaning of executing a document is signing it as a consenting party thereto..cution of the document means that the executant must have signed or put his thumb mark/impression, only after the contents of the document have been fully stated and read by the executant before he put his signature thereon. Mere admission of the initial by the executant would not be tantamount to an admission of execution of the document. VEENA SINGH (DEAD) THROUGH L.R. VERSUS THE DISTRICT REGISTRAR/ADDITIONAL COLLECTOR (F/R) AND ORS.- 2022 (5) TMI 1578 - SUPREME COURT