Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 76A.djvu/100

–4– -4"signature" or "subscription" includes a mark of a person who can not write, as provided by section 65 of this title; "State", when applied to different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia, the several territories and possessions of the United States, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; "sworn" includes "affirmed" or "declared"; "testify" includes every mode of oral statement under oath; "United States" includes its territories and possessions, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; "vehicle" includes every description of carriage, or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on land; "vessel", when used with reference to shipping or navigation, includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water; "writ" means an order or precept in writing, issued in the name of the Government of the Canal Zone, or of a court or judicial officer; "writing" includes printing and typewriting and reproduction of visual symbols by any process; and "year" means a calendar year. § 62. Words and phrases Words and phrases shall be interpreted according to the context and the approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases, and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law, or are defined by section 61 of this title, shall be interpreted according to the peculiar and appropriate meaning or definition. § 63. Words giving joint authority Words granting a joint authority to three or more persons grant the authority to a majority of them, unless otherwise provided. § 64. Notice (a) Notice is: (1) actual, which consists in express information of a fact; or (2) constructive, which is imputed by law. (b) A person who has actual notice of circumstances sufficient to put a man upon inquiry as to a pahicular fact has constructive notice of the fact itself in all cases in which, by prosecuting the inquiry, he might have learned the fact. § 65. Execution of signature by mark When a person, who can not write, makes his signature or subscription by a mark, his name must be written near it and the mark witnessed by another person who writes his own name as a witness; but when a signature is by mark and it is desired or required that the signature be acknowledged or serve as the signature to a sworn statement, it must be witnessed by two other persons who must subscribe their own names as witnesses thereto. § 66. Construction of Code (a) The provisions of this Code, as far as they are substantially ihe same as statutes existing on January 2, 1963, shall be construed as continuations thereof, and not as new enactments. (b) The provisions of this Code shall be construed according to the fair construction of their terms, with a view to effect its object and to promote justice.

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