Court in this State, it shall be competent for either party to read in evi dence such record of testimony, or a copy thereof, certified by the Recorder of such county to be a full copy of all the testimony relative to such deed as it may have relation to, as may be contained in such record; and such record, or such copy thereof, when so read in evidence, shall have the same force and effect as if the witness or witnesses had been sworn to the same facts on the trial of such cause, and may be excluded, rebutted, or impeached, in the same manner that such testimony might have been excluded, rebutted, or impeached, if sworn to by such witness or witnesses on such trial.

[1865, p. 83. In force March 6, 1865.]

1250. County Board to appoint Commissioner. 9. If the records or files of the Circuit, Probate, Common Pleas, Commissioners', or other inferior Court of record in any county in this State, or the papers on file in the office of the Clerks of either of such Courts, or the bonds, notes, or other papers belonging or properly filed in the office of the Treasurer, Auditor, Assessor, or other officer of any county in this State, or any or either of them, have been or shall, in whole or in part, be destroyed, the Board of Commissioners, when they shall have met, as in the first section of this Act [§ 1232] required, shall appoint a Commissioner, who, after having taken an oath of office as such Commissioner, shall forthwith proceed to discharge the duties hereinafter required of him.

[2 R. S. 1852, p. 505. In force January 12, 1852.]

1251. Commissioner's duties and powers. 10. The said Commissioner may, if he deems the same necessary, employ a clerk; and such clerk, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, shall take an oath of office. Such Commissioner shall also procure a sufficient number of substantial record-books, in which shall be recorded at length the proceedings had before such Commissioner hereinafter authorized, keeping in separate books the record of business appertaining to the different Courts and the offices of the different officers of such county. Such Commissioner shall have power to administer oaths in all cases where testimony is required to be taken before him.

1252. County Board may remove Commissioner. 11. If the Board of Commissioners of such county shall, at any time, become satisfied that such Commissioner is incompetent, or unreasonably delays or neglects the duties devolved upon him by this Act, they may, by order of record, remove him from such office, and appoint a successor; and from such order of removal there shall be allowed no appeal. And such Board of Commissioners may, at any time after twelve months from the time when such Commissioner enters upon the duties of his office, require him, within twenty days thereafter, to close up the business of his commission; after the expiration of which twenty days, the duties of his office shall cease. But such Board of Commissioners may, at any time thereafter, authorize a resumption of said duties for a limited period.

1253. Notice of appointment. 12. Such Commissioner, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall give twenty days' notice of his appointment, and of the time and place when and where he will commence discharging such duties, by publication in some newspaper of general circulation, printed and published in such county, if there be one, and by

posting up written notices in each of the townships of such county. Such Commissioner may adjourn from time to time, as the business before him may require; but after an adjournment without day, he shall not again. resume the duties of such office, without an order of the Board of Commissioners of such county shall authorize him so to do.

1254. Powers of Commissioner. 13. Such Commissioner shall have power to administer all oaths necessary and proper to be taken before him; to issue subpoenas for witnesses, and compel their attendance by attachment; punish contempts by fine, and issue execution therefor; tax costs and issue fee-bills therefor; and such writs and subpoenas shall be served by the Sheriffs of the several counties in this State, who, together with witnesses, shall receive therefor the same compensation which may be allowed by law for the same service or attendance in the Circuit Court, to be taxed against the party making such cost.

1255. Entry of proofs before Commissioner. 14. Such Clerk or, if no Clerk be appointed, such Commissioner, shall enter of record such proof, by disinterested witnesses as may be produced before him, of the existence and contents of any record (judgments and decrees, and writs of execution and returns thereof, recognizances and forfeitures thereof, in Courts of record excepted), bond, note, or other document or written paper whatever, which belonged to or was properly filed or deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit, Probate, Commissioners', or other inferior Courts of record in such county, which has been or may be destroyed: Provided, however, That no proof of the contents of any will shall be received until the Commissioner is satisfied, by the oath of the person seeking to have the same recorded, or other satisfactory evidence, that neither the original nor an authenticated copy of the same can be produced.

1256. Testimony, not conclusions, to be set out. 15. Such Commissioner and such Recorder, in making entries of the testimony taken before them, shall set out at length the statements of the witness or witnesses, and not the conclusions drawn by such Commissioner or Recorder from such statements.

1257. Signing record-Certifying-Evidence. 16. Such records shall be signed by such Commissioner from day to day, and at the close of each volume he shall certify the same to be true and full copies of the testimony taken before him, and shall deposit such volumes, as fast as they are completed, in the different offices to which their contents respectively appertain. Such records, or properly certified copies thereof, may be read in evidence in any legal proceeding in this State, and shall have the same force and effect that the same testimony would have had if delivered orally in Court.

1258. Copies to have force of originals. 17. Copies of such records, or any part thereof, may be certified as true and full copies of all testimony taken on the subject-matter to which such part relates, by such Commissioner, while such volume remains in his custody, and by the officers with whom the same may be properly deposited after such deposit, and shall have the same force and effect in evidence as the original of which they are copies.

1259. Pay of Commissioner, Clerk, and Recorder. 18. Such Commissioner shall, if he employ a clerk, be entitled to receive, as compen

sation, a sum to be allowed by the Board of Commissioners, not exceeding three dollars per day for the time actually employed; and if he acts as his own clerk, a like compensation of not exceeding four dollars per day. Such clerk, if one be employed, shall be paid not exceeding two dollars per day. The Recorder of any such county shall be entitled to charge half the usual fees for recording, to be paid by the person for whom the same is done. All expenses of books, stationery, and per diem shall be paid by such county.

1260. Record of copy of destroyed will. 19. Whenever an authenticated copy of any will, or letters testamentary or of administration, the record whereof has been destroyed, shall be produced to the Clerk of the proper Court, he shall record the same in the same manner as if it was the original, and shall note upon the record the date at which it was originally recorded; which last record shall have the same force and effect the original record would have had if the same had not been destroyed.

1261. New bonds by administrators, etc. 24. All guardians, administrators, and executors whose official bonds have been or may be destroyed in any general or notorious destruction of the records of any county in this State, shall, within three months thereafter, file new bonds, to the acceptance of the proper officer, or, failing so to do, they shall cease to be such guardians, executors, or administrators, and the proper Court shall appoint a successor. The liability on such new bond shall commence from the time of filing the same in the proper office; and the sureties in the bonds destroyed shall not be liable for any default or miscarriage of their principal, occurring after such new bond has been filed.

1262. County officers to file new bonds. 25. All county officers from whom, by law, official bonds are required shall, upon the destruction of any such bonds, file with the proper officer new bonds, within twenty days after they shall be notified of such destruction by written notice over the hand of the officer having the custody of the bonds destroyed, or failing so to do or to resign such offices, shall be fined, before any Justice of such county, ten dollars for every day they shall fail so to do; and the liabilities on such new or old bonds, respectively, shall be the same as is provided in the preceding section of this Act on like bonds given by guardians, executors, and administrators.

1263. Auditor to re-place papers and books of Treasurer. 26. If the precept and duplicate, or either of them, or any other public paper or papers in the hands of the Treasurer of any county in this State has been or shall be, in whole or in part, destroyed, it shall be the duty of the County Auditor of such county, or other officer whose duty it may be to furnish such papers, forthwith thereafter, to re-place the same in his hands, by making out anew all such books and papers as have been destroyed, in the same manner and from the same original as the books and papers destroyed were made out; which precept, duplicate, and other books and papers, when so made out and placed in the hands of such Treasurer, shall have the same force and effect as if they were the identical papers which had been destroyed.

1264. Taxpayers must prove payment. 27. All persons charged with taxes on such duplicate, made out as in the last preceding section is required, shall be liable to pay the same, unless such persons shall produce proper receipts for the same, or shall satisfy, by competent proof,

such Treasurer or the Board of Commissioners of such county that they have paid the same.

1265. New assessment-rolls. 28. Whenever, in any county, both the assessment-rolls and duplicates shall be destroyed, the Board of Commissioners of such county shall cause new assessments and appraisements to be made out, in the same manner and under the same regulations that the original assessments and appraisements were made; and all such proceedings shall be thereafter had as may be necessary and proper, under existing laws, to enable the Treasurer to collect all taxes due in such county.

[1893 S., p. 18. In force February 7, 1893.]

Transcribing.

1265a. Court records I. That whenever any civil order book, probate order book, judgment docket, entry docket or other record book in which are kept any of the records and proceedings. of any circuit, superior or criminal court in this state have been or shall be damaged by fire or otherwise to the extent, that, in the opinion of the judge of such court, it is necessary in order to preserve and perpetuate the contents thereof, to transcribe the same into a new book, such judge shall make an order to be entered in the civil order book of such court ordering and directing the clerk of such court to transcribe the contents of such damaged book into a new book of like size and form, to be provided for that purpose by the county in which such court is held.

1265b. Duty of clerk. 2. The clerk of such court shall thereupon promptly, under the direction of the court, transcribe the contents of such damaged book into a new book of like size and form, in plain, legible handwriting and at the close thereof certify that the same is a full, true, correct and complete transcript of the contents of such damaged book, and after such record shall have been so transcribed and certified by such clerk, the judge of such court shall examine such transcribed record, and if he finds the same to be a correct transcript of the original, shall so certify at the end of such transcript immediately after the certificate of the clerk thereto.

1265c. Damaged books preserved. 3. Such damaged books shall be preserved and kept in the office of the clerk of such court.

1265d. Effect of new records. 4. Such transcribed book when so made and certified, shall bear the name and number of the original damaged book of which it is a transcript, and such authenticated tran

script therein contained, shall be deemed, held to be and treated as the original, and shall have the full force and effect of the original for all purposes, and shall be admitted in evidence in all cases the same as the original.

1265e. Fees of clerk - Payment. 5. Such clerk shall be allowed five cents per hundred words, (four figures counting as one word) for transcribing such records, including index thereto, except that for docketing such cause on an entry, judgment or court docket, including dates, numbers, names of counsel, kind of action and all things complete as said cause appears on the original, said clerk shall be allowed two cents; and for indexing said causes on said new docket, he shall be allowed one cent for each cause so docketed, and no more, to be paid out of the county treasury as other allowances by the court are paid. [1893 S., p. 298. In force March 4, 1893.]

1.

1265f. Records partly destroyed supplied from original. That wherever any part of any record or records of any county of the State of Indiana have from any cause been destroyed, and where the remaining part or parts of such record or records have been transcribed for the purpose of preserving the same from mutilation or decay, it shall be the duty of such officer having charge of such record or records to supply such parts of said records so destroyed, from the original instru. ments or documents from which said records or parts of records were made upon the presentation to such officer by the proper holder of such instruments or documents, and for which services he shall receive from the party presenting such instruments or documents the sum of ten cents for each one hundred words or fraction thereof so supplied. It shall be the further duty of such officer to properly index such records so supplied, as original instruments are indexed, provided such instruments shall not be so indexed where the original index thereof is not destroyed, that such parts of records so supplied shall have the same force and effect in law as the original record.