§ MR. ANDERSONasked Mr. Attorney General, By what authority the Great Seal hitherto appended to Letters Patent for inventions has been abandoned, and a smaller wafer seal representing only one side of the original been substituted; whether this change is legal without Act of Parliament; whether this change reduces the cost of patents; and, whether Letters Patent under the new seal 1490 would be as valid as under the Great Seal, if tested in a Court of Law?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir JOHN HOLKER),in reply, said, that the small wafer seal referred to had been attached, by virtue of the Act passed last Session, entitled, "An Act making provision for the Preparation and Authentication of Commission and other Documents issued from the Offices of the Clerks of the Crown in Chancery." He did not know that the substitution of the smaller seal would reduce the cost of patents; but he was clearly of opinion that the patents sealed with this seal would be as valid as those sealed with the Great Seal.