163AProof of powers of attorney

163A Proof of powers of attorney

163A Proof of powers of attorney

(1) Where, in the manner provided by subsection (2), a document (being a legible document) is certified to be a true and complete copy of the contents of an instrument creating a power of attorney, the document is evidence—

(a) as against the principal under the power of attorney—of the execution and contents of the instrument, and

(b) as against any other person—of the contents of the instrument.

(2) A document is certified in the manner provided by this subsection—

(a) if there is endorsed on the document a written certificate, to the effect that the document is a true and complete copy of the contents of the instrument of which it purports to be a copy, by—

(i) the principal under the power of attorney created by the instrument, or

(ii) a person of a prescribed class, and

(b) if each page of the document bears the signature of the person who gives the certificate referred to in paragraph (a).

(3) Subsection (1) does not make a document better evidence than is the instrument of the contents of which it purports to be a copy.

(4) This section does not affect any other method of proving the execution or contents of an instrument creating a power of attorney.

(5) A person who gives a certificate for the purposes of this section knowing the certificate to be false is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for 5 years.

(6) This section applies only to a document certified for the purposes of this section after the commencement of the Conveyancing (Powers of Attorney) Amendment Act 1983.