Powers of Attorney Act

This Act may be cited as the Powers of Attorney Act.

In this Act, “Registrar” means the Attorney General or any fit and proper person or persons appointed by him by notification published in the

Subject to the provisions of this section, no instrument purporting to create a power of attorney executed either before or after the commencement of this Act shall have any validity to create such power within Brunei

Darussalam, unless the execution of the instrument is verified by the attestation of one or more witnesses.

Subject to the provisions of this section, no instrument purporting to create a power of attorney shall, after the commencement of this Act, have any validity to create such power within Brunei Darussalam until —

Where the Registrar has, in exercise of the power under section 1(2), delegated his powers and duties to any person —

There shall be payable in respect of the deposit of documents under this section a fee.

Every instrument purporting to create a power of attorney which has been or of which an office copy or a true copy has been deposited in the office of the Registrar in accordance with section 3, whether before or after the commencement of this Act shall, so far as the instrument is valid and so far as may be compatible with the terms of the instrument, continue in force until —

notice in writing of its revocation by the donor, or of the renunciation thereof by the donee, has been deposited in the office of the Registrar;

either the donor or the donee has died or the donee has become of unsound mind; or

the donor has been adjudicated an insolvent or of unsound mind or a receiving order has been made against him in bankruptcy.

If a power of attorney given for valuable consideration is in the instrument creating the power expressed to be irrevocable, then, in favour of a purchaser —

This section applies to powers of attorney created by instruments executed either before or after the commencement of this Act.

If a power of attorney, whether given for valuable consideration or not, is in the instrument creating the power expressed to be irrevocable for a fixed time specified therein, then, in favour of a purchaser —

This section applies only to powers of attorney created by instruments executed after the commencement of this Act.

Any person making any payment or doing any act in good faith in pursuance of a power of attorney shall not be liable in respect of the payment or act by reason that before the payment or act the donor of the power had died or became mentally disordered or of unsound mind or bankrupt or had revoked the power if the fact of death, mental disorder, unsoundness of mind, bankruptcy or revocation was not at the time of the payment or act known to the person making or doing it:

Provided that this section shall not affect any right against the payee of any person interested in the money so paid and that person shall have the same remedy against the payee as he would have had against the payer if the payment had not been made by him.

A separate file of documents deposited in accordance with section 3 shall be kept by the Registrar who shall enter in a register kept for that purpose short particulars of each such document together with any subsequent revocation or other determination thereof, of which he shall have had notice.

Any person may during the usual office hours upon payment of a fee search such register and file, and inspect any document so deposited, and an office copy of the document shall be delivered to him on request and on payment of a fee.

A copy of any document so deposited may be presented at the office of the Registrar and may, after verification and on payment of a fee, be marked by the Registrar as an office copy, and when so marked shall become and be an office copy of such document.

An office copy of any document deposited in accordance with section 3 shall, when marked as provided in section 8(3), be without further proof sufficient evidence of the contents of such document, and of the deposit thereof in the office of the Registrar.

The Registrar shall —

on application whether made orally or in writing by any person desirous of obtaining information in respect of any specified document deposited in the office of the Registrar or as to the deposit or otherwise of a document of any specified tenor; and

on payment of a fee, furnish to the best of his ability to such person the information applied for:

The Minister responsible for law* may, with the approval of His

Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan, make such regulations as he may think expedient for regulating procedure under this Act and for prescribing the forms to be used and the fees to be paid in respect of proceedings under this Act.

* Transferred from the Minister responsible for law to the Registrar of Powers of Attorney with effect from 16th September 1998 – [S 32/1998]