<P> With regard to companies and other corporate bodies, the common law originally required that all contracts made by such a body had to be made under seal, whether they were deeds or not . This rule was gradually eroded away, for example being abolished in respect of companies by the Companies Acts in the first half of the twentieth century, but until 1960 remained in force for other corporations . It was abolished by the Corporate Bodies' Contracts Act 1960 . Normal contracts (i.e. not deeds) can now be made by a corporation in the same way as they can be made by an individual . </P> <P> The Companies Act 1989 removed the requirement for a company to have a common seal at all, and made provision for those documents which had previously needed to be executed under seal, such as deeds, to instead be executed by officers of the company . However companies can still have and continue to use seals to execute deeds if they wish, in which case the seal has to be engraved (i.e., a seal which leaves an impression on the page, not printed or a wafer facsimile) and to bear the name of the company . </P> <P> Some other corporations (which are not companies registered under the Companies Acts) are still required to have and use seals . For example, the Royal Charter incorporating the Royal College of Nursing requires the College to have a common seal, as does that of the BBC . </P> <P> Also, the changes relating to deeds which were introduced in 1989 do not apply to corporations sole such as government ministers or bishops of the Church of England . Therefore, where a corporation sole has to execute a deed, it continues to have to do so by the use of an official seal . </P>

A corporate seal is required in order for the corporation to enter into a binding contract