RECEIPT (M.E. receite, derived through Fr. from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. recepta, participle of recipere, to receive)  , in law, an acknowledgment in writing that a sum of money or other valuable considered has been received by the person signing the acknowledgment in discharge of a debt or other obligation . Such a receipt is prima facie evidence only of payment, and it may be shown, for example, that it was signed by mistake, or obtained by fraud or misrepresentation . By the Stamp Act of 1891, which repealed and re-enacted other acts, a duty of Id. is imposed on every receipt or form of writing discharging a debt of £2 or upwards; the payment of the duty is denoted by affixing a penny stamp to the document, and the cancelling of the same by the person giving the receipt . By § 103 if a person gives a receipt, liable to duty, not duly stamped, or refuses to give a receipt, liable to duty, duly stamped or, on payment to the amount of £2 or upward, gives a receipt for a less sum than £2 or divides the amount paid with intent to evade the duty, he is liable to a fine of £1o . A receipt not duly stamped may be stamped at the Inland Revenue Office within fourteen days on payment of a fine of £5 or within one month on payment of £1o .