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Rolls, books, etc., to be open to inspection.
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101.—(1) The Act of 1891 is hereby amended as respects instruments executed on or after the 1st day of November, 1991, by the substitution of the following section for section 16:
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“16. (1) Subject to subsection (2), any person who is a party to any instrument, or who has in his custody or under his control any document, the inspection whereof may tend to secure any duty, or to prove or lead to the discovery of any fraud, negligence, or omission in relation to any duty shall, within 14 days of a request by way of a notice in writing from the Commissioners—
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(a) provide such information as the Commissioners deem necessary, and
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(b) permit any person authorised by the Commissioners, to inspect any such document and to take such notes, extracts, prints, printouts and copies as he may deem necessary,
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and in case of refusal to so provide or permit by the first-mentioned person, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £1,000, and if the refusal continues after conviction he shall be guilty of a further offence on every day on which the refusal continues and for each such offence he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £100.
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(2) It shall be a good defence in a prosecution for an offence under subsection (1) for the accused to show that he is required or entitled by law to refuse the request of the Commissioners.
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(3) In this section ‘document’ includes—
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(a) any instrument, roll, book or record,
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(b) any record of an entry in a document, and
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(c) any information stored, maintained or preserved by means of any mechanical or electronic device, whether or not stored, maintained or preserved in a legible form.”.
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(2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in subsection (1) the provisions of that subsection shall apply to any instrument, the date of first execution of which appears from that instrument or otherwise to be prior to the 1st day of November, 1991, and where the Commissioners wish to verify that date to their satisfaction.
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