Great seal; privy seal. Grants or letters-patent first pass by bill. This is then signed at the top with the king's own signmanual, and sealed with his privy signet, which is in the custody of the secretary of state; and then sometimes immediately passes under the great seal. Otherwise the course is to carry an extract to the keeper of the privy seal, who makes out a writ or warrant thereupon to the chancery. So that the sign-manual is the warrant to the privy seal, and the privy seal to the great seal. But some grants pass through certain offices, as the admiralty or the treasury, in consequence of the presence of the sign-manual without the confirmation of the signet, the great or the privy seal.3 The office of lord chancellor (q. v.) is created by the mere delivery of the great seal into his custody: he having always had supervision of all such public instruments of the crown as were authenticated in the most solemn manner. Keeper of the seal. Of the great seal: an officer through whose hands pass all charters, grants, and commissions of the king under the great seal; the lord keeper of the great seal. Of the privy seal: an officer through whose hands pass all charters signed by the king before they come to the great seal; at present, the lord keeper of the privy seal. To counterfeit the king's great or privy seal was high treason, and a branch of the crimen falsi or forgery.. Public seal. A seal belonging to one of the departments of government, in particular of the executory department, and used to attest approval and genuinenessof official acts, of copies of public documents. Seal, place of. The place on a document where a seal is attached or is to be attached. In Latin, locus sigilli; whence "L. S." - By long usage and general understanding, "L. S." is regarded as representing a seal, in copies of legal precepts.1 If incumbent on an officer to give a bond, and he furnishes an instrument having "L. S." instead of a seal, and, upon the strength thereof, assumes the duties of the office, he and his sureties will be held upon the instrument as upon a bond. See NOTARY. 2, v. For a trial judge to certify by signing and sealing, or simply by signing, a statement of the exceptions taken to his rulings or charge is called "sealing a bill of exceptions." It is sufficient, in the practice of the Supreme Court, if the bill is simply signed by the judge. See further EXCEPTIONS, Bill of. 3, v. For a jury to write out and seal up their verdict, as, in an envelope, and then separate to meet and publish it in open court, is termed "sealing their verdict," q. v. 4. As to sealed letters, see LETTERS, 3; PUBLICATION, 2. Seals. In Louisiana, the effects of a decedent may be taken into public custody by means of "seals." If the heir wishes to obtain the benefit of inventory, and delay for deliberation, before committing an act of heirship, he must cause seals to be affixed to the effects by a judge, or a justice of the peace; and, after ten days, petition for the removal of the seals, and that an inventory be taken. The seals are placed on the bureaus and on the doors of the apartments which contain the effects and papers of the deceased, so that they cannot be opened without destroying the seals; and they are "raised," publicly, in the same manner. 5. To make air-tight, usually with wax. Placing wax upon the top of a cork in a bottle containing a sample of milk for analysis, and not extend. ing the wax over the mouth so as to render the bottle air-tight, is not "sealing" it, within a statute providing for the preservation of alleged adulterated milk for use as evidence. An instrument under seal. Debts by "specialty," or special contract, are debts whereby a sum of money becomes or is acknowledged to be due by deed or instrument under seal; as, by deed of covenant, by deed of sale, by lease reserving rent, or by bond or obligation. A specialty is any sealed contract or obligation; a special contract as distinguished from an oral or Hannibal & St. Joseph R. Co. v. Missouri River Packet Co., 125 U. S. 260, 270 (1888), Lamar, J. The defendant, in the court below, recovered $5,300 for damages to steamboats, caused by striking the piers of the bridge. See 4 N. Y. 581; 6 id. 176; 12 id. 593; 16 id. 80; 18 id. 57; 20 id. 434; 5 Barb. 169; 23 id. 88; 5 Cal. 43; 45 id. 679; 48 id. 70. $2 Bl. Com. 465. In architecture, not only the dimensions and mode of construction, but a description of every piece of material-its kind, length, breadth, thickness, and the manner of joining separate parts. See Jones v. Watson, CONTRACT, Executed. In patent law, see INVENTION; ISSUE, 1; PATENT, 2.