“The courts have held that an impression made on wafers or other adhesive substance capable of receiving an impression comes within the definition of ‘cera impressa.’ If then wax be construed to be merely a general term including any substance capable of receiving and retaining the impression of a seal, paper, if it has that quality, may well be included in the category. The machine now used to impress public seals does not require any substance to receive or retain the impression, which is as well defined, as durable — less likely to be defaced than that made on wax. It is the seal which authenticates, not the substance impressed.” William C. Anderson, A Dictionary of Law 926 (1889).
cera impressa
cera impressa (seer-[schwa] im-pres-[schwa]). [Latin “impressed wax”] Hist. An impressed seal. • Cera impressa originally referred only to wax seals, but later came to include any impressed seal, regardless of the substance impressed. See SEAL.
