Stamp

An impression made by order of the government, on paper, which must be used in reducing certain contracts to writing, for the purpose of raising a revenue.

See Starkie, Ev.; 1 Phil. Ev. 444.

A paper bearing an impression or device authorized by law, and adapted for attachment to some subject of duty or excise. The term in American law is used often in distinction from "stamped paper," which latter meaning, as well as that of the device or impression itself, is included in the broader signification of the word. Stamps or stamped paper are prepared under the direction of officers of the government, and sold at a price equal to the duty or excise to be collected. The stamps are affixed and cancelled; and where stamped paper is used, one use obviously prevents a second use. The internal revenue acts of the United States of 1862 and subsequent years require stamps to be also under penalty of invalidating written instruments, and rendering them incapable of being produced in evidence.