AN ACT to provide for the appointment of Notaries Public, and to prescribe their duties.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana:

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SECTION 1. The governor may appoint and commission one or more notaries public in each orginized county of the territory, who may respectively hold their offices three years, unless sooner removed by the governor.

SEC. 2. Each notary is invested with the power and shall perform the duties which pertain to that office, by the custom and law of merchants.

SEC. 3. Every notary public is required to keep a true record of all notices given or sent by him, with the time and manner in which the same were given or sent, and the names of all the parties to whom the same were given or sent, with a copy of the instrument in relation to which the notice is served, and of the notice itself.

SEC. 4. Such records and copies of them, authenticated by the hand and seal of the notary, his protests, and all his official acts as notary, and his seal, shall reserve such credit and faith as they are entitled to by the law and custom of merchants.

SEC. 5. Each notary public is required to have a seal, which are to be engraved the words, "Notarial Seal," and "Montana," with his surname at length, and at least the initials of his Christian name.

SEC. 6. Notaries public are empowered to administer oaths, and to take acknowledgments and proof of deeds required or permitted by the law of this territory to be recorded or acknowledged.

SEC. 7. On the death, resignation, or removal from office of any notary, his records, with all his official papers, shall, within three months therefrom, be deposited in the office of the clerk of the county court, in the county for which such notary shall have been appointed; and if a notary, on his resignation or removal, neglect for three months so to deposit them, he shall be held guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished accordingly, and be liable in an action to any person injured by such neglect; and if

an executor or administrator of a deceased notary willfully neglect, for three months after his acceptance of that appointment, to deposit the records and papers of the deceased notary which came into his hands in said clerks office, he shall be held guilty of a misdemeanor and punished accordingly.

SEC. 8. If a notary removes his residence from the county for which he was appointed, such removal shall be taken as a resignation.

SEC. 9. It is the duty of each clerk aforesaid to receive and safely keep all such records and papers of the notary in the case above named, and to give attested copies of them and the seal of his court; for which he may demand such fees as by law may be allowed to the notaries, and such copies shall have the same effect as if certified by the notary.

SEC. 10. That on or before the first day of May next every notary public then in commission in the territory shall have his commission recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds in

his county.

SEC. 11. Any notary public failing to comply with the provisions of the foregoing section, shall be deemed removed from office from and after the said first day of May, next.

SEC. 12. Every notary public whose commission bears date. after the said first day of May, next, shall comply with the following conditions: First. Before entering upon the discharge of his official duties, he shall give bonds to the territory of Montana in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, conditioned for the true and faithful execution of the powers and duties of his office, with two or more sureties to be approved on said bond by the clerk of the county court of the proper county. Second. On the approval of said bond by said clerk, said notary shall have his commission recorded by the recorder of deeds of his county, and shall pay to the clerk of the county court the sum of three dollars.

SEC. 13. Said notary public shall then be deemed commissioned, and not before.

SEC. 14. The clerk of the county court shall thereupon transmit to the secretary of the territory a certificate that said notary public is duly qualified, and specifying the date of his qualifica

tion, which certificate shall bear the signature of said notary public, and said secretary is hereby required to file said certificate in his office, and to keep a book in which he shall enter the names of notaries hereafter qualified, in the order in which the same are transmitted to him, with the name of the county and the date of qualification of each.

SEC. 15. Any notary public exercising the duties of his office after the expiration of his commission, or when otherwise disqualified, or appending his official signature to documents when the parties have not appeared before him, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be subject to a fine of one hundred dollars. for each offence, to be recovered before any court having competent jurisdiction in his county, and shall also be removed from office by the governor.

SEC. 16. The governor of the territory is hereby authorized to appoint one or more notaries public in any unorganized county, who shall qualify as herein before provided, in the county to which said unorganized county is attached for judicial purposes.

SEC. 17. That in case of a demand of payment of any promissory note, bill of exchange, or other commercial paper, by a notary public, and a refusal by the maker, drawer, or acceptor, as the case may be, the notary making said demand may inform the indorser, or any party to be charged, if in the same town or township, by notice deposited in the nearest post office to the party to be charged, on the day of demand, and no other notice shall be necessary to charge said party.

SEC. 18. That an act in relation to notaries public, approved Docember 31st, A. D. 1864, and an act supplementary to an act in relation to notaries public, approved November 23d, A. D. 1867, be, and they are hereby, repealed.

SEC. 19. This act to take effect and be in force from and after

its passage.

[NOTE FROM THE SECRETARY.-The foregoing act having been presented to the governor of the territory for his approval, and not having been returned by him to the house of the legislative assembly, in which it originated, within the time prescribed by the Organic Act of the territory, has become a law without his approval.]

AN ACT regulating the tenure of civil officers in Montana territory.

Be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the territory of Mon

tana:

SECTION 1. No person nominated or appointed by the governor of this territory to fill any territorial office therein created, under, or by any of the laws of this territory, shall hold, exercise, or perform any of the duties of, or pertaining to, such office, unless the nomination or appointment of such person or officer has first been made by and with the advice and consent of the legislative council.

SEC. 2. The acts of all persons or pretended officers, who shall pretend to hold or perform the duties of any such territorial office, having only the nomination or pretended appointment of the governor of the territory thereto, without having the said nomination or appointment made by and with the advice and consent of the legislative council of this territory, shall, to all intents and purposes, be null and void.

SEC. 3. No pretended appointment or nomination by said governor, prior to the same being made with the advice and consent of the legislative council of this territory, shall confer upon such appointee or person so nominated any power or authority to fill, exercise, or perform any of the duties of such office, nor shall it be lawful for any person acting, or pretending to act, under, or by virtue of, any such pretended nomination or appointment, to ask, demand, or receive any fee, commission, or reward whatever, for any such labor or services done or performed under, or by color of, any such nomination or pretended appoint

ment.

SEC. 4. It shall not be lawful for the governor of this territory hereafter to remove any officer or person exercising or performing the duties of any territorial office under, or by virtue of, any law or authority of this territory, unless such removal shall be made by and with the advice and consent of the legislative council of this territory first had, nor shall any such officer be holden at the will of the governor or executive alone, nor shall any nomination or pretended appointment of any person by the governor to any such office operate as a removal of any incum

bent or officer de facto performing the duties thereof, until such nomination has been sanctioned by or made by the advice and consent of the legislative council of this territory.

SEC. 5. In all cases where a vacancy shall happen in any territorial office after the passage of this act and during the recess of the legislature, first, by the death of the incumbent; second, by his resignation; third, by his ceasing to be a citizen of the territory; fourth, by his conviction of any infamous crime; fifth, by his refusal to qualify, or to give or renew his official bond within the time prescribed by law; upon the governor being notified of such vacancy, it shall be his duty to issue his proclamation convening the legislative council of this territory at the seat of the government, at a time not exceeding twenty days. from the date thereof, for the purpose of filling said vacancy, and in the meantime may appoint some suitable person to fill said office, who shall take the oath and give the bond required by law of such officers, and who shall perform all the duties of his said office until the convening of said legislative council.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the said legislative council to assemble at the time and place designated by said governor, in his said proclamation, and when so assembled, or a majority thereof, they shall be deemed and taken to be in executive session, and shall have and possess all power and authority, and their acts shall be as valid as if the legislative assembly of the territory was in regular or lawful session at the time, and when so assembled, the said governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the legislative council, first had and obtained, may appoint some suitable person to fill said vacancy. SEC. 7. The person whose nomination shall be so ratified and confirmed by said legislative council shall, without unnecessary delay, qualify, by taking the oath and giving bond, required of such officer by the laws of this territory, and shall hold their office for the term of two years, from and after their appointment as aforesaid, and until their successor in office shall be duly appointed and confirmed.

SEC. 8. In all cases when any action, information quo warranto, or other proceedings shall have been, or shall hereafter be brought, in any court of competent jurisdiction, in this ter