§ 450. Printed copies of laws of another state.-A printed copy of a statute, or other written law, of another state, or of a terri tory, or of a foreign country, or a printed copy of a proclamation, edict, decree, or ordinance, by the executive power thereof, contained in a book or publication purporting or proved to have been published by the authority thereof, or proved to be commonly admitted as evidence of the existing law, in the judicial tribunals thereof, is presumptive evidence of the statute, law, proclamation, edict, decree, or ordinance. The unwritten or common law of another state, or of a territory, or of a foreign country, may be proved, as a fact, by oral evidence. The books of reports of cases, adjudged in the courts thereof, must also be admitted as presumptive evidence of the unwritten or common law thereof. [Code Civ. Pro., § 942, § 451. Copies of records of United States courts. A copy of the record or any other proceeding of a court of the United States, is evidence, when certified by the clerk or officer, in whose custody it is required by law to be. [Code Civ. Pro., § 943, without change.] § 452. Copies of documents on file in departments of United States. A copy of a record or other paper, remaining in a department of the government of the United States, is evidence, when certified by the head, or acting chief officer, for the time being, of that department; or when certified by the officer in whose charge it is, pursuant to a statute of the United States, or otherwise in accordance with a statute of the United States, relating to certifying the same. A certificate of the director or other officer in charge of the census of the United States, attested by the secretary of the interior, stating the population of any part of the United States, or giving the result of said census otherwise shall be received as prima facie evidence of such facts. The record of the observations of the weather, taken under the direction of the signal service of the United States, when certified by the officer in charge thereof, at the place where they were taken and are kept, is prima facie evidence of the matters of fact stated therein. [Code Civ. Pro., § 944, as am. by L. 1899, ch. 99, without change.], § 453. Record of conveyance or mortgage of vessels.-The record of a bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, or conveyance of a vessel, belonging to a port or place, within the United States, recorded in the office of the collector of customs where the vessel is registered or enrolled, which was acknowledged or proved, before it was recorded, in like manner as a deed to be recorded within the state; or a transcript of such a record, duly certified by the collector; is evidence, with the like effect as the original. [Code Civ. Pro., § 945, § 454. Field notes of Holland land company in county clerks' offices. The field notes, maps, books and other statistical information secured from the offices of the Holland land company and filed or recorded, pursuant to chapter three hundred and twenty-nine of the laws of eighteen hundred and thirty-six, in the offices of the clerks of the counties of Genesee, Orleans, Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany, or copies thereof filed in pursuance of such act, shall continue to be preserved in such offices, and certified copies of such originals, or of such copies, shall in the absence of the originals, be evidence with the same force and effect as if the originals were produced. [L. 1836, ch. 329, without change of substance, omitting temporary provisions.] § 455. Field notes, surveys and maps of Holland land company in office of secretary of state. The original title papers, field books, surveys and maps of the Holland land company, heretofore filed in the office of the secretary of state, pursuant to chap ter two hundred and ninety-five of the laws of eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, shall continue to be preserved in such office, and copies of such field books, surveys and maps, or of portions of them, duly certified, by the secretary of state under the seal of his office shall be evidence in the same manner and to the same extent as the original. [L. 1839, ch. 295, § 1, 2.] § 456. Field notes et cetera, of Holland land company, how proved. Whenever any of the field notes, surveys or maps of the tract of land formerly belonging to the Holland land company in this state, purporting to be originals made for such company, shall be produced before a justice of the supreme court, such justice may take evidence as to the genuineness thereof, and if the same is proved in such a manner as to entitle them to be read in evidence on a trial at law between parties claiming any of the lands therein referred to, such justice may certify them to have been so proved, and thereafter they shall be received in all courts in this state as presumptive evidence of the facts therein stated. [L. 1839, ch. 295, § 3; L. 1850, ch. 221, § 1.] § 457. Copies of original field notes of Holland land company, how proved. Whenever any field notes, surveys or maps purporting to be copies of the originals mentioned in the last preceding section shall be produced before a justice of the supreme court, together with such originals, and the originals shall be proved as required by the last preceding section, and the former shall be proved to the satisfaction of such justice to be true copies of the whole, or any part of such originals, such justice shall certify such copies to have been so proved, and thereafter they shall be received in all courts as evidence in the same manner and to the same extent as such originals when proved and certified according to the last preceding section. [L. 1850, ch. 221, § 2, without change.] § 458. Supervisors of certain counties may provide for proving field notes of Holland land company.-The board of supervisors of a county any part of which was included within the tract of land formerly belonging to the Holland land company, or any company by that name, or any portion of such company, may provide for having the field books, maps and surveys of such company heretofore filed in the office of the secretary of state, proved before a justice of the supreme court; and may also provide for having transcripts of such field books, surveys and maps and of all conveyances on record in the office of the secretary of state, relating to the title of such land made and certified by the secretary under his seal of office, and filed and recorded in the office of the clerk of the county where the lands affected may be situated. The expense thereof shall be a county charge. [L. 1839, ch. 295, § 4.] § 459. Field notes of Ogden company.-A justice of the supreme court may in the manner provided by this chapter for proving the field notes of the Holland company take proof and certify to the authenticity of any original or copy, field notes, surveys or maps of the tract of land situated in the county of Erie, commonly known as the Indian reservation lands or Ogden's company purchase, or of any other tract or portion of land within such county; and such original or copies thereof, when so proved and certified shall be received in evidence in the same manner as the field notes or copies of the Holland land company, when proved and certified. [L. 1850, ch. 221, § 3.] § 460. Evidence in relation to Pulteney estate.-Copies of the depositions of Robert Troup, Joseph Fellows and John Greig, in relation to the Pulteney estate, taken and filed in the office of the register of chancery, in pursuance of chapter nineteen of the laws of eighteen hundred and twenty-one, when certified by the register of the court of chancery and having the seal of the court affixed thereto, shall be prima facie evidence of the facts set forth in such depositions in all actions and proceedings in which the title of the said estate may be in issue, or in which the title by reason of any matter incidental to the point in issue, may be drawn into question, or between any persons claiming and holding lands within this state, under conveyances from such estate. [L. 1821, ch. 19, as am. by L. 1872, ch. 692.] § 461. Evidence as to the common lands in New York city.— In an action or proceeding involving a question as to the situs of any lot of the common lands, so called, in the city of New York, the court may, upon the offer of any party, receive in evidence any evidence which was received in an action heretofore prosecuted in the superior court of the city of New York, by Russell D. Miner and continued by his personal representatives against the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city of New York, or in an action in said court between certain heirs at law of Russell D. Miner, deceased, against Jacob Scholer and others, and also the deposition of Isaac T. Ludlum, deceased, verified before Edward Henry Lacombe as referee, upon the fourteenth day of November eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, in an action in said court by Hester Sherman and others against Thomas Kane and others. The testimony of a witness shall not be admissible pursuant to this section, unless the court is satisfied that the witness is dead. This section shall not give to any documentary evidence introduced in connection with any former testimony, any greater or different effect than may be due to it by reason of the testimony relative thereto. Such evidence may be introduced in any manner established by the practice of the courts for the introduction of testimony given upon a former trial by a witness who has since died, or by reading from the printed cases on appeal heretofore filed in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the city of New York. [L. 1883, ch. 88; Birds., 2154, rewritten, without change of substance.] |