Section 10: Repertory and Register of Wills

10. Repertory and Register of Wills (1) (a) Every notary shall keep a Repertory which shall be an up to date summary of all the notarial deeds drawn up by him in numerical order, without any blank space or interlineation. (b) Every item of the Repertory shall indicate— (i) the number, date and nature of the deed; (ii) the names, surnames and addresses of the parties; (iii) that the deed is in Minute or in brevet and is registered; (iv) in the case of a deed relating to the ownership or usufruct of property, a description of the property, its location and price or value; and (v) in the case of a deed relating to a loan, cession or transfer of money, the amount involved. (2) Every notary shall keep a Register of Wills in which he shall indicate, in relation to any holographic will deposited with him, the date of deposit and the names, surname, occupation, address, date and place of birth of the person effecting the deposit, but not the contents of the will. (3) Every notary shall— (a) where required to do so by the Attorney-General, the Chamber or a Court, forthwith produce his Repertory for inspection to the person named in the request; and (b) in each quarter, not later than 25 January, 25 April, 25 July and 25 October— (i) deposit a copy of the Repertory for the preceding 3 months with the Chief Archivist; and (ii) pay to the Chief Archivist a fee of 5 rupees or such other fee as may be prescribed for every deed included in the Repertory, and collect a receipt to that effect. (4) (a) Every notary shall, not later than 31 March in every year, transmit to the Chief Archivist for safe keeping every original drawn up by, or deposited with, him during the year which precedes by 40 years the year during which the transmission is made, together with a list of the deeds, and the Chief Archivist shall issue a receipt to that effect. (b) Where an original required to be transmitted pursuant to paragraph (a) is untraceable or in bad condition, and a duplicate of the deed in good condition is available, the Chief Archivist shall replace the original by the duplicate. continued on page N37 – 7 N37 – 6 (1) [Issue 7] Revised Laws of Mauritius (c) Where neither the original nor a duplicate of the deed is available for the purposes of this subsection, the notary shall, where this is possible, transmit to the Chief Archivist a certified copy of the deed. (5) Where a notary or a person who was a party to a notarial deed or is the latter’s heir or personal representative wishes to have a photocopy of a deed transmitted pursuant to subsection (4), he shall make a written application to that effect to the Chief Archivist who shall, on payment of the expenses to be incurred, supply the required photocopy. (6) (a) The Chief Archivist, or any public officer deputed by him, may, at all reasonable times, inspect the Office of a notary to ensure that section 4 (3) and this section have been complied with. (b) Subject to paragraph (c), no original deed in the possession of a notary or held on deposit by the Chief Archivist may be given up except where— (i) the law so requires or a Court so orders; and (ii) a photograph or photocopy of the deed has been made and certified by a Judge and been substituted for the original. (c) For the purposes of paragraph (b), no photograph or photocopy of a will or donation mortis causa shall be made while the testator or donator is still alive.