Chap. 77.—An ACT to Preserve all Rights and Remedies Imperilled or
Destroyed by the Loss or Destruction, during the Late War, of Papers
Filed in the Various Public Offices of the Commonwealth.

Approved Fvbruary 15, 1873.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That in any case
in which, by any law, or any contract made in pursuance of
any law, the filing of any paper or papers, prior to the tenth
day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, in the offices
of the secretary of the commonwealth, the treasurer, the auditor
of public accounts, the second auditor, the board of public
works, or the secretary thereof, the board of the literary fund,
or the adjutant-general, was made necessary as a pre-requisite
to the enjoyment or exercise of any right or franchise, or the
bringing or maintaining of any suit, or other proceeding in the
nature of a suit, then if such paper or record cannot, upon
search, be found in the proper office, and there is probable
cause for believing that such paper or record has been de-
stroyed, the proof, by parol or otherwise, of the actual exercise
of such right or franchise, acquired by or predicated upon
such filing, during the space of two years, at any time prior to
the said tenth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-five,
shall, in any suit or other proceeding, when such question shall
arise, be held and deemed to be prima facie evidence of the
filing of such paper in accordance with the requirements of
such law or contract, and shall be held and deemed to be
equivalent prima facie to the full proof of such filing, and of
the lawful exercise of the right or franchise thereby conferred:
provided, however, that such proof shall not be deemed con-
clusive, but may be rebutted, as in other cases, by any evidence,
parol or otherwise.

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