Page:United States Reports, Volume 2.djvu/236

 ago Cases ruled and adjudged in the I’1Q§· ’. /VJ. S£PZ`E7fl58?' TCIIII, I "‘ *"' Pnnx’s Lellee ·ue»;/iu H.uv:r1un.* IECTMENT brought by the late proprietaries for a tra& 53.4 E of land in the County of Nartbumptm. On the trial it was material for the lelfors of the p|aintill·`to lhew, that a fur- vey had been duly made and returned into the Land-Oihce be- fore the 4th of july 1796, in order to eftablifh their_ title to ‘ I'. the premifes, under the refervation contained in the 8th feélion , _ of the aét of Aifembly, velling their eftates in the Common- ‘ wealth. 1 Val. Dall. Edit. p. 822. They, accordingl, of-. fered to give in evidence a paper, which was certified by Lutinr, the Surveyor General, to be a true copy of the origi- nal in his oHice, purporting to be the return of a Survey of 1 2, 548 acres (including the land in queliion) lituate in the forks of the river Delaware, and containing a draught made in purfuance of a warrant, dated the I4th of November r·]4r : . But the paper itfelf was not ligned by any perfon, nor did it {late by whom, or when, the draught was made, a blank being left for the day and year. The defendant’s counfel objeéted to the evidence. The paper · is not authenticated by any lignature; there is no proof that it is written in the hand-writing of any public ollicer ; nor how long it has been depolited in the Land-Oflice, and it has not gone with the polfeilion of the land, which has been uniform- ly in the defendant. If, indeed, it cannot be conlidered as an gfieiul document, but as a private paper, however ancient it may be, the original mult be produced; for, a copy is not the belt evidence the nature of the cafe admits. Every paper found in a public ollice is not evidence : It mult be a paper, which it was the duty of the oliicer to receive and record. The counfel for the lelfors of the plaintiff admitted, that thc paper was in fome refpeéls defeélive ; but contended that there was no lixed rule as to the admillion of evidence of this kind. In the cafe of private papers, it is true, that however ancient, they will not be admitted, if they are not regularly ex- ecuted, ‘ Tried at Easwn, 1Wsi Prius, the zgth of june 1795, before 3"*K:.·m, (.‘L·:'¢f_‘jus1ire,ai1d Smrru. jfusticc..

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