§ 1452 [Presumption of Genuine Seal]

When a document has an official seal on it, courts will normally assume that seal is real and that whoever used it had the right to do so. This applies to seals from the federal government, state or local government agencies, courts that handle maritime cases, and notaries public.

It also covers seals from foreign countries that the United States officially recognizes, along with their government agencies and offices. The same goes for public entities within those recognized countries.

What this means in practice is that if you present a document with one of these official seals, you usually don't need to bring in extra proof or witnesses to show the seal is legitimate. The court will accept it as genuine unless someone raises a real challenge to it. This makes it easier to use official documents, like government records or notarized papers, in court without jumping through extra hoops.