Chap. 74.—An ACT to Amend and Re-enact Section 5 of Chapter 176 of
the Code of 1860, in Relation to copies of Records and Papers in Pub-
lic Offices as Evidence.

Approved February 11, 1873.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That section five
of chapter one hundred and seventy-six of the Code of Vir-
ginia (edition of eighteen hundred and sixty), be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 5. A copy of any record or paper in the clerk's office of
any court, or in the office of the secretary of the common-
wealth, treasurer, register, or either auditor, attested by the
officer in whose office the same is, and a copy of any such re-
cord or paper in the office of the board of public works, or
the board of education, attested by the secretary or clerk of
such board, may be admitted as evidence in lieu of the origi-
nal. And the certificate of the auditor of public accounts of
the fact and time of the return of any real estate as delin-
quent, or of the sale thereof for taxes, shall be prima facie
evidence of what is stated in such certificate. Any such copy
or certificate purporting to be sealed, or sealed and signed, or
signed alone, by any such officer, secretary or clerk, may be
admitted as evidence without any proof of the seal or signa-
ture, or of the official character of the person whose name is
signed to it. The certificate of the auditor of public accounts
of the payment or non-payment at any time of taxes on for-
feited or delinquent lands or lots, or of their not having been
entered on the books of the commissioner of the revenue for
the county or counties, cities or towns, or on the books of the
assessor of the township or townships wherein the same were
chargeable with taxes, shall, in any suit in relation to such
lands or lots, be prima facie evidence of what is stated in such
certificate: provided it be filed with the papers of said suit at
least. twenty days before the first day of the term at which it
is to be offered as evidence. When the certificate purports
to be signed by the said auditor, it may be admitted as evi-
dence without proof of his signature.

2. This act shall be in force from and after its passage.