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Title 48, Territories and Insular PossessionsRelease 119-102

§1421f–1 Acknowledgment of Deeds

Title 48 › CHAPTER 8A — GUAM › SUBCHAPTER I — GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 1421f–1

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

You can have deeds or other papers about land in the District of Columbia or any U.S. Territory officially acknowledged in Guam, Samoa, or the Canal Zone. They may be acknowledged before a notary, a judge appointed there, or any official there who by their office has notary powers. Any notary’s certificate from Guam, Samoa, or the Canal Zone must include a separate signed statement from that place’s governor or acting governor saying the notary was really the official they claimed to be. Deeds or papers handled that way since January 1, 1905, and with the governor’s certificate, are treated the same as ones done later.

Full Legal Text

Title 48, §1421f–1

Territories and Insular Possessions, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Deeds and other instruments affecting land situate in the District of Columbia or any Territory of the United States may be acknowledged in the islands of Guam and Samoa or in the Canal Zone before any notary public or judge appointed therein by proper authority, or by any officer therein who has ex officio the powers of a notary public: Provided, That the certificate by such notary in Guam, Samoa, or the Canal Zone, as the case may be, shall be accompanied by the certificate of the governor or acting governor of such place to the effect that the notary taking said acknowledgment was in fact the officer he purported to be; and any deeds or other instruments affecting lands so situate, so acknowledged since the first day of January, 1905, and accompanied by such certificate shall have the same effect as such deeds or other instruments hereafter so acknowledged and certified.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

For definition of Canal Zone, referred to in text, see section 3602(b) of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse. Codification Section was not enacted as part of the Organic Act of Guam which comprises this chapter. Section is also classified to section 1663 of this title. Section was formerly classified to section 1358 and 1432 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

48 U.S.C. § 1421f–1

Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102