Certificate

Certificate, in the law of England and of the United States, is a written statement by a person having a public or official status concerning some matter within his knowledge and authority. There are a great many classes of such certificates—e.g. certificate of charge upon land; certificate of the chief-clerk in Chancery proceedings, which is practically a report of what the clerk has done; certificate of discharge of a debtor in liquidation; certificate of incorporation under the Companies Acts; certificate of mortgage on ships under the Merchant Shipping Acts; certificate of naturalisation. In the United States, the word is commonly applied to any formal statement made by a public servant in the execution of his duty, as by a collector of taxes, a postmaster, &c. See CHARACTER.