Seals in Themiclesia
Seals in Themiclesia are stamps for impressing text onto paper serving executive and identification purposes. The application of a seal grants the assent of the seal's holder to the document to which it is applied, and individuals (natuarl or corporate) often provide their seals to identify themselves, in lieu of signatures in Casaterra. As with signatures, the forgery or fraudulent application of seals and their impressions are criminal offences in Themiclesia.
Origin
By most authorities considered to be a direct development of the ancient Menghean practice of sealing a letter with clay bearing the impression of the sender's seal to prevent tampering and to declare or ascertain his identity, seals have been in use from the very start of recorded Themiclesian history. Their functions largely survive into the present day.
Material and design
Seals may be fashioned from any solid materials that would retain its engraved design reasonably well; for practical and economical reasons, wood remains the most common. Private corporations are required to use a wooden seal. Public bodies possess seals of materials specified by primary legislation.
- Emperor, Empress, Empress Dowager, Grand Empress Dowager: jade, turtle motif
- Officials of the First and Second Classes: gold, dragon motif
- Officials of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Classes: silver, flower motif
- Officials of the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Classes: bronze, arch motif
- Officials beyond the Affluence: wood, plain knob
Types
Seals serve largely the same function (i.e. identification, authentication, execution) regardless of its possessor. Yet because when used by a public or private corporate body it may carry much graver implications, such bodies (particularly public bodies) often are subject to extensive regulations over its use. These regulations, set forth in a public body's Standing Administrative Orders, often require that a document be scrutinized by a series of persons or groups of persons before the seal belonging to a public body, that properly possess public power, could be applied, and thereby that power exercised. The following are the types of seals commonly found in public bodies and their constituents:
- seal (印, 鈐記, or 關防), appearing on any instrument that exercises the public body's statutory powers;
- signet (官章), appearing on any instrument that exercises an individual officer's statutory powers (when separately defined);
- stamp (條戳), appearing on internal correspondence and external correspondence of a purely discoursive character; and
- marker (圖記), appearing on internal correspondence of a purely discoursive or personal character.
Private seals are not subject to the above.
Use
Physical application
All seals are applied in like fashion. It is first dabbed into a small paste container (whose design and content are themselves a form of fine art and collection) so that the impressive surface is coated with some pigment, and then it is pressed evenly onto the surface on which the impression is desired. The applier may shift the centre of force from corner to corner to ensure a clear impression. For seals with very large surfaces, the pigment may first be applied on a brush then transferred onto the seal's inscribed surface; the page is then placed on the up-side-down seal and pressed with a roller to create an even impression.
The pigment is always crimson in colour for true seals (this excludes stamps used to replicate text), except when its user is in mourning, during which blue paste is used. Seals belonging to public bodies, by definition, will always appear with crimson pigment, as public bodies cannot be in mourning.
Customs
As seals are indispensible instruments in conducting legal and public affairs in Themiclesia, there is a large body of customs and regulations associated with them.
Seals are meant to be personal property of whomever the seal is meant to represent. A large number of Themiclesians carry their personal seals with them in a box or pouch, and virtually all would instinctively carry them when going to a bank or government agency. Where the seal belongs to a public body or corporation, it is typically stored securely and used under supervision and record. For an additional layer of security, some establishments may require seal over sign manual, i.e. a seal impressed over a personal signature, to complete the execution of an instrument, the rationale being that signatures cannot be inserted under an existing seal, and the details of a seal are difficult to forge when distorted by the signature. In addition, seals create very persistently identical impressions, while signatures may change depending on the state of the signatory; these two measures are deemed complementary in personal identification most often in financial institutions.
In public communications, it is customary to mark the beginning and end of the document with a seal.
Business use
Because corporations are legal persons that must be represented by natural persons, seals are also the customary way in which corporate actions are legitimized and authenticated. The use of corporate seals date as far back as the formalization of corporate personhood in Themiclesian history, dating to the 16th century. By the middle of the 19th century there developed conventions regarding the use of seals in commerce that still continue to the modern day. One consequence of this formalization of the use of seals is that signatures are not always used in Themiclesia.
Corporate seals
Corporate seals (商號壐, stang-quh-qniq) represent the corporation as a personal seal represents an individual. By the terms of the Corporation Act of 1887, each corporation must have a corporate seal that has its impression registered with the government, and the seal must state the full name of the corporation. An impression of the corporate seal is required wherever a corporation is required to make an official expression of its intentions, such as in executing contracts (purchasing, hiring, retaining, etc.) or filing official documents to the courts or government departments (tax filings, information filings, applications, court documents, etc.)
In typical practice, the name is written in space-filling seal script, though unlike in ancient Menghe, Themiclesian corporate seals usually have somewhat more elaborate border flourishes and even illustrations. These decorations are not merely ornamental but also deter counterfeiting, since hand-carved seals typically have minor imperfections that counterfeiters do not reproduce accurately. Such ornamental designs were introduced in the 19th century, very likely under Casaterran influence, as seals there usually have much more elaborate impressions.
For a very large corporation, the corporate seal may see hundreds or even thousands of impressions every day, leading to considerable wear. The pattern of wear also serves to authenticate the impression, as wear is difficult to reproduce by counterfeiters and can be compared to known authentic impressions to determine if a datable impression shows the same degree of wear relative to documents that must have been impressed roughly at the same time.
Officer seals
Since all corporations must have registered officers who serve statutory functions in relation to the corporation, registered officers must also have seals that identify and authenticate their expressions whenever they are required. Conventionally these are called officer seals (商司壐, stang-sle-qniq). Their impressions are also to be registered with the government. Since officers and managers are elected or appointed from time to time, officer seals must also be updated to reflect the incumbent in office.
Each member of the company's board of directors is represented by a seal (董事壐). A board resolution is deemed passed and authenticated when the seals of more than half of all board members are present. In usual practice, board members do not carry their board seals personally, which are held by the company's official Secretary, who applies the seals based on their knowledge of how board members voted.
Further, corporations with publicly-traded shares must also have a registered general manager and deputy, which holds the manager seal (理事壐).
Since officer seals are often replaced, they most ofen have plain borders and few or no ornamental features. However, some corporations do permit officers to choose ornaments on their seal impressions. The de rigueur stamp colour of officers seals is crimson, unless the officer is personally in a state of mourning, in which black is permissible.
Staff stamps
Staff stamps are used by company employees internally, unlike corporate and officer seals which are mainly used to execute documents that represent the corporation externally.