A copy of any record, bond or paper in the office of the clerk of either house of the Legislature or of any court, or in the office of the Secretary of State, treasurer or Auditor, or in the office of the surveyor of lands of any county, or in the office of any other public officer, attested by the appropriate officer, which shall include the secretary of a board or commission, in whose office the same is, may be admitted as evidence in lieeu of the original. The certificate of the Auditor of the fact and time of the return of any real estate as delinquent, or of the sale thereof for taxes, shall be prima facie evidencre of what is stated in such certificate. Any such copy or certificate purporting to be sealed, or signed and sealed, or signed alone, by any such officer, may be admitted as evidence without any proof of the seal or signature, or of the official character, of the person whose name is signed to it. The certificate of the Auditor of the payment or nonpayment at atny time of taxes on forfeited or delinquent lands, or of their not having been entered on the land books of the county or counties wherein the same were chargeable with taxes shall, in any suit in relation to such lands, be prima facie evidence of what is stated in such certificate, provided it be filed with the papers of said suit and notice thereof be given to the opposite party or his attorney at least twenty days before the first day of the term at which it is to be offered as evidence. When the certificate purports to be signed by the said Auditor, it may be admitted as evidence without proof of his signature.
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