Paragraph 4

For section 3(4) there shall be substituted the following subsection—

“(4)

Where, in any proceedings relating to a F1traditional document in which a question arises as to a relevant person’s subscription on behalf of a granter under section 9(1) of this Act, it is established—

(a)

that a signature bearing to be the signature of the witness of the relevant person’s subscription is not such a signature, whether by reason of forgery or otherwise;

(b)

that the person who signed the document as the witness of the relevant person’s subscription is a person who is named in the document as a granter of it;

(c)

that the person who signed the document as the witness of the relevant person’s subscription, at the time of signing—

(i)

did not know the granter on whose behalf the relevant person had so subscribed;

(ii)

was under the age of 16 years; or

(iii)

was mentally incapable of acting as a witness;

(d)

that the person who signed the document, purporting to be the witness of the relevant person’s subscription, did not see him subscribe it;

(dd)

that the person who signed the document as the witness of the relevant person’s subscription did not witness the granting of authority by the granter concerned to the relevant person to subscribe the document on his behalf or did not witness the reading of the document to the granter by the relevant person or the declaration that the granter did not wish him to do so;

(e)

that the person who signed the document as the witness of the relevant person’s subscription did not sign the document after him or that such subscription and signature were not one continuous process;

(f)

that the name or address of such a witness was added after the document was founded on or registered as mentioned in subsection (3)(a) above or is erroneous in any material respect; or

(g)

in the case of a testamentary document consisting of more than one sheet, that a signature on any sheet bearing to be the signature of the relevant person is not such a signature, whether by reason of forgery or otherwise,

then, for the purposes of those proceedings, there shall be no presumption that the document has been subscribed by the relevant person on behalf of the granter concerned.”.