Cap. 55 Art. 28Forms of acts.

(1) Every notarial act must contain -

(a) the indication written out in words and in full by the notary himself, of the day, the month and the year, and in the case of a will, also the hour in which the act is signed;

(b) the name and surname of the notary;

(c) (i) the personal details of the parties, as listed in article

2042 (a) and (b) of the Civil Code:

Provided that the date of birth may be written in figures only, and if the full address is included in the deed, such address may also contain figures only;

(ii) where the place or date of birth of any of the parties is unknown to the notary or where any of the parties is born of an unknown parent, or where the surname at birth of the parents is unknown to the notary or cannot with the exercise of reasonable diligence be ascertained by him, a statement of such fact in the act shall be sufficient;

(iii) where a person appears as the agent or representative of any of the parties or where witnesses, attestors or interpreters appear thereon, the name and surname, the place and date of birth (which may be written in figures only), and place of residence of such agent, representative, witness, attestor or interpreter;

(iv) where an appearer declares to be acting as a trustee in respect of the subject-matter of the act, the indication that the party appears as trustee in respect of that subject-matter;

(d) the number (which may be written in figures only) of the official document produced for ascertaining the identity of the appearers or a declaration that the notary has ascertained such identity by means of attestors. Where witnesses or interpreters appear on an act, or where the identity of any of the appearers has been ascertained on the testimony of attestors, the number (which may be written in figures only) of the official document produced by such witness, attestor or interpreter for their identification;

(e) the indication, written out, at least in the first instance, in words and in full, of any date, sum of money, amount or quantity of things forming the subject matter of the act: Provided further that in any discrepancy between words and figures, words shall prevail;

(f) (i) the precise description of the things forming the subject-matter of the act in a manner that they cannot be mistaken for others,

(ii) in the case of an act relating to inter vivos immovable property, such property shall be designated, if urban, by the mention of the city or village and the street wherein it is situate and the street number thereof, or, if it has no number by the mention of at least three of its boundaries; if rural, by the mention of the place within the limits of which it is situate, its denomination, if any, (and possibly the denomination, of the district), its area, and at least three of its boundaries as well as a site plan of the property showing the juxtaposition of the property: Provided that where the same site plan required to be so annexed is already annexed to another public deed, a reference thereto shall suffice: Provided further that for the purpose of this paragraph, all land shall be considered rural unless it is the whole roof and airspace overlying urban property;

(g) a mention of the titles and papers annexed to the act. Any annexe not mentioned in the act or not duly signed, shall not be considered as forming part of the act except in so far as the truth of its contents results from the act itself: Provided that, in any case where, in terms of the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act and the Income Tax Acts or any other enactments substituting the same, the duty and the tax due in terms of the respective laws regarding the negotium of the notarial act are to be paid at the office of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, the notary shall annex to the act after the publication thereof the copy given to him by the said Commissioner of the notice which the notary filed at such office, and the copy thus annexed shall be deemed to form part of the act notwithstanding that it is not mentioned in the act and is not signed by the appearers, the witnesses, the attestors, the interpreters, if any, and the notary;

(h) a statement that the notary has duly explained to the appearers the contents of the act before the publication thereof;

(i) a statement that the act has been published in the presence of the witnesses, where the presence of witnesses is required by law. Where the notary does not know whether the witnesses are related by consanguinity or affinity to any of the parties or the appearers in any of the prohibited degrees, it shall be lawful for him to assure himself of such fact from the witnesses themselves, and, in any such case, he shall state that the witnesses are not related as aforesaid according to their own statement;

(j) an indication of the island, the city or village and the house or other place wherein the act is published and, where it is a country or place other than Malta, the name of such country or such place;

(k) (i) the signature, at the foot of the act, in the annexes and in the list, of the notary, the appearers, and, if attestor or an interpreter or witnesses shall have been employed, of such attestors, interpreter or witnesses, saving the provisions contained in paragraph (g) of this sub-article and, unless article 25(6) applies, the notary shall initial every sheet of the act and of every annexe thereto,

(ii) the notary shall, immediately after his signature at the foot of the act declare his capacity of Notary Public of Malta in English or in Maltese, either in writing or by means of a stamp or a sealed stamp, and Notaries Public in Government employment shall also declare such capacity,

(iii) when the documents annexed to the act exceed five in number, disregarding for this purpose the copy of the notice filed at the office of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue subsequently to the completion of the act in terms of the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act and the Income Tax Acts or any enactments substituting the same, the notary may make a list thereof, separate from the act, and annex it to the act, making an express reference to such list in the act; in any such case the list shall be signed in the same manner as the act, and the signatures on the annexed documents shall be dispensed with,

(iv) the signature on documents filed as vouchers of annexed accounts to which such accounts make reference, is likewise dispensed with,

(v) if any of the appearers or any of the attestors does not know how to or cannot sign, he shall declare the cause of such inability or incapacity, and the notary shall make a mention of such declaration before the act is signed;

(l) in the case of a public will contained in several sheets, the signature of the testator, interpreter, witnesses and notary in the margin of each intermediate sheet. "Intermediate sheet" means every sheet which forms part of the act except that containing the final signatures.

(2) The signature of the witnesses in the intermediate sheets and annexes referred to in this article shall not be necessary if all the appearers are able to sign.

(3) The above requirements, apart from those stated in subarticle (1)(a), (b), (c), (h), (i), (j) and (k), shall not apply to a notarial deed whereby a trust is created in terms of article 43A of the Trusts and Trustees Act except in the case where it involves any act of settlement under trust or unilateral declaration of a trust of immovable property or real rights over such property or any vesting or divesting of a trustee in respect of such property or rights.