CHAP. 292.—An ACT to amend and re-enact chapter 365 of the acts of the
general assembly of Virginia of 1910, entitled ‘‘an act to authorize re-
citals in deedg of conveyance executed prior to April, 1865, that the
deed from the patentee of the land conveyed to or from his vendees
was admitted to record in the general couet at Richmond, Virginia, or
Frankfort, Kentucky, and authenticated copies of such original deeds to
be received as prima facie evidence of the execution of the said deed

in suits and actions where the title to the land purported to be con-

veyed is involved.” Approved March 22, 1910, by adding a new sec-
tion, to be designated section 2 to said act, also authorizing authenti-
cated certified copies of deeds conveying lands prior to the year 1865,
lying partly within the States of Virginia and Kentucky, and deeds
conveying different parcels of land embraced in a single deed lying in
said States of Virginia and Kentucky, the originals of which have been
duly recorded in the general court at Richmond, Virginia, or in the
general court at Frankfort, Kentucky, or duly certified copies of said
deeds from the clerk’s office of any county or city within this common-
wealth, to ke received in evidente in actions at law or suits in equity
in the courts of this commonwealth with all the force and effect of the
original deed or deeds, where the original deed or deeds have been de-
stroyed by fire, lost, or mislaid; and to authorize the clerks of the cir-
cuit courts of the various counties, and the corporation and chancery
courts of the cities in Virginia, to admit to record duly authenticated
certified copy or copies of any such original deed or deeds from the
records of said general court at Richmond, Virginia, and Frankfort,
Kentucky, or from the clerk’s office of any county or city in this State
in which said original deed or deeds have been recorded within this
Commonwealth; and to provide when such certified copy or copies of
such original deed or deeds have been so admitted to record they shall
have the same force and effect as if the original itself had been first
recorded in said county or city.

Approved March 14, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
in any action at law or suit in equity, wherein the title to real
estate is involved, it shall appear from the evidence that any
deed from the patentee of the land in controversy, or to or from
his vendees, cannot be found upon the records of the county or
counties in which said land is situated, and if it shall appear that
there are deeds in the chain of title of the land in controversy,
duly executed and recorded prior to April, eighteen hundred and
sixty-five, in the county or counties where the said land, or some
part thereof, is situated, reciting the recordation of such deed or
deeds from the patentee, or to or from his vendees, in the general
court at Richmond, Virginia, or Frankfort, Kentucky, then the
recitals in such deed or deeds or authenticated certified copies of
such original deeds shall have all the effect of the original deed
or deeds.

2. Whenever it shall appear in the chain of title to any land
lying within the boundaries of the Commonwealth of Virginia,
or in any trial at law or in equity in any court in Virginia, that
any original deed or deeds, made and acknowledged prior to
the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and duly recorded
either in the records of the general court at Richmond, Virginia,
or Frankfort, Kentucky, prior to said year eighteen hundred
and sixty-five, that such land, or any part thereof, was embraced
in the same deed, along with other land or lands lying within the
boundaries of the State of Kentucky, and that such original deed
or deeds, after having been so duly recorded, has or have been
destroyed by fire, lost, or mislaid, or not present, then a duly
certified copy of such deed or deeds from the records of said
general court at Frankfort, Kentucky, authenticated according
to the acts of congress, or a duly certified copy from the clerk’s
office of any county or city within this commonwealth where the
same has or have been duly recorded, shall be received in evidence
by all of the courts of this commonwealth, and shall have all of
the force and effect of the original deed or deeds as if it or they
were present and put in evidence in said courts.

And the clerks of the circuit courts of the several counties,
and corporations, and chancery courts of the cities of this com-
monwealth, shall admit to record a duly authenticated certified
copy or copies of such original deed or deeds from the records of
said general court at Frankfort, Kentucky, or from the clerk’s
office of any county or city in which said original deed or deeds
has or have been recorded within this commonwealth, and when
so admitted to record such copy or copies shall have all of the
force and effect in law of the original deed or deeds as of the date
of the recordation of said copy or copies.