fected by any one, and if by any one other than an officer duly authorized by law to serve writs or notices, they shall make oath to the fact before some officer legally authorized to administer oaths, and if it be an officer other than one of this State, and who has no seal of office, his official character shall be certified to by an officer who has a seal of office, for the county or corporation in the State where he acts, that such person or persons intend to establish such title, deed, bond, mortgage, conveyance, receipt or other paper required or authorized by law to be recorded, in case no sufficient objection be made, for the Circuit Court for said county, at its first term after giving cuit Court. such notice, to establish the title and right of such person or persons, and admit to record such papers so established as aforesaid: Provided, That nothing in this section contained when and how shall be so construed as to prohibit the recording of any paper original papers may be rerequired or authorized by law to be recorded, upon the pre-corded. sentation of the original, with the clerk's certificate of record thereon; and the date of the certificate of the clerk shall be held and taken as the date of the record thereof. (g)

Powers of Cir

marks and

lished, how.

SEC. 22. To establish records of marks and brands lost or Records of destroyed as aforesaid, the person or persons making applica- brands may cation shall take and subscribe an oath (or affirmation) before be re-estab the Clerk of the Circuit Court, or recording officer of the county, stating the particular mark and brand recorded and so lost or destroyed, and, as near as may be, the time when the same was recorded, which oath shall be taken in writing and recorded in the office of the clerk or recording officer, and to have the same force and effect in law as the original record.

(9)

marriages

how.

SEC. 23. For the re-establishment of records of marriages Records of which have been lost or destroyed as aforesaid, any person or may be repersons making application shall take and subscribe an oath established, (or affirmation) before the Clerk of the Circuit Court, or recording officer of the county, stating the name of the person to whom married, or names of the persons married, the name of and the official character of the person who administered the same, and, as near as may be, the date of such license, and when executed, which oath (or affirmation) shall be taken in writing and recorded in the office of the clerk or recorder, and to be the same in effect in law as the original. (g)

per connected

istration of es

SEC. 24. To establish any will, letter testamentary, of ad- How lost wills, ministration, of guardianship, assignment of dower, or any &c., or any papaper or papers, or instruments of writing in any way con- with the adminnected with the administration of the estate of any decedent, tates, &c., may or the administration of guardians, which have been recorded be established or required by law to be recorded or filed, and which have been record. lost or destroyed as aforesaid, the applicant shall produce the original or a paper writing purporting to be a copy, or as near a copy of the original paper or papers so lost or destroyed,

(g) Secs. 1, 2 and 3, Chap. 1735, Act of Feb. 19, 1870.

and admitted to

Judgments at

orders in the

county court
may be
re-established

by the respec

tive courts upon petition, notice and hearing.

with full or circumstantial proof of the substance thereof, and of his, her or their intention to re-establish such lost paper or papers aforesaid, and shall notify the opposite party or parties in the manner provided in the 21st section of this chapter, at the first term of the Circuit Court thereafter, (if no sufficient objection be made,) such paper or papers so lost or destroyed shall be re-established and again admitted to record or placed on file, and be as binding and effectual in law as the original. (h)

SEC. 25. In all cases where judgments at law or decrees in law in chancery chancery, or decrees and orders in the county in any of the or decrees and courts of the county, the evidence of which shall have been lost or destroyed as aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful for the plaintiff, or party or parties interested therein, to file his, her or their petition, upon oath, stating the facts in such case. which said petition shall be filed two months, if in the Circuit Court, previous to any term of the Circuit Court for said county; if in the County Court, one month previous to any term of the County Court or Probate Court; if in a Justices' court, twenty days before any term of the Justices' court; if in the court of the board of county commissioners, one month before any term or meeting of the board of county commissioners, and a copy thereof shall be served in the same manner as other legal process at least thirty days if in the Circuit Court, twenty days if in the County Court or court of board of county commissioners, or Probate Court, and ten days if in the Justices' court, before any term as aforesaid at which any action upon the same shall take place, upon the party or opposite party, his, her or their representatives, if residents of the State, and whenever it shall be made to appear by affidavit that any party or parties defendant, or the opposite party, his. her or their legal representatives, if any, reside beyond the limits of this State, it shall and may be lawful to order a hear ing on the facts charged in said petition, and thereupon to pass an order in the same manner as though said party, defendant or defendants, or opposite party or parties, had appeared and were present in court: Provided, That a copy of the said order for the hearing be published in some newspaper in the county. if there be one, if not, then in the newspaper nearest thereto. for the term of thirty days, or such longer time as the Judge, Justice or president of the board of county commissioners shall direct, or by any person delivering a copy thereof to the defendant or defendants, or opposite party or parties, and making an affidavit to the fact of said service; and if the affidavit shall be made before an officer not of the county, or a commissioner of deeds for the State of Florida, and who has a seal of his office, his official character and signature shall be certi fied to by an officer who has an official seal of office. The answer of said party or parties defendant, or the opposite party,

(h) Sec. 4, Chap, 1735, Act of Feb. 19, 1870.

swer of the

shall be filed ten days at least before the day or term fixed for When the ana hearing of the same. It shall be the duty of the court, upon defendant to due return with proof of service made in manner required be filed. aforesaid, to hear the said petition upon the petition and answer, if any, or upon petition and evidence adduced, if there be no answer, and summary proceedings shall thereupon be had to establish such judgment or decree or order, in such Effect of the manner as the court may direct, and the judgment or decree or judgment, deorder which may thereupon be rendered by the court shall be deemed as re-establishing such judgment or decree or order, to all intents and purposes, as the same existed at the date of the destruction or loss of the records of the county. (i)

cree or order.

How all pro

ing in the

established.

SEC. 26. All proceedings and matters pending and undecided in said courts, and all instruments of writing pertaining ceedings pendthereto, may be re-established when lost or destroyed, as afore- courts, &c., said, by filing a substantial copy or copies thereof in the court may be reand giving the defendant or defendants, or his attorney of record, notice in writing, ten days previous to the term of the court at which the motion is intended to be made to re-establish the same, and then the case shall be proceeded in, on the copies thus filed, and may establish the same in lieu of the lost or destroyed originals, and the same shall be as effectual and valid in law as the originals were, thus destroyed or lost, as aforesaid, or the plaintiff or plaintiffs may proceed anew as though no suit had been previously commenced. (i)

may be issued

destroyed

SEC. 27. Whenever any writs of fieri facias, which may When second have been issued upon any judgment lost or destroyed, as afore-writ of f. fa. said, and said writ shall have been lost or destroyed, as afore- upon lost or said, it shall be lawful for the proper officer to issue another judgment. writ of fieri facias in lieu of the original thus lost or destroyed, upon plaintiff, his agent or attorney, making affidavit that the original was thus lost or destroyed, and that the plaintiff is likely to, and believes that the plaintiff will lose a part or the whole amount of the debt or judgment before the plaintiff will be able to re-establish the judgment thus lost or destroyed, from which an execution or a writ of fi. fa. may issue; and if the defendant, his agent or attorney shall swear that there is When officers nothing due on the writ of fi. fa. thus destroyed or lost, and to return to shall enter into bond and security, payable to the plaintiff, in property seized double the amount of the debt claimed to be due and owing on on fi. fa. the execution and judgment thus lost or destroyed, conditioned that whatever the court shall ascertain to be due to the plaintiff on the execution or judgment thus lost or destroyed, he will pay to the plaintiff, then, in that event, the officer shall deliver to the defendant, his agent or attorney, any property he may have seized by virtue of said writ of fi. fa. thus sued When execuout; and it shall be the duty of the clerk or other officer to tion to issue issue an execution against the defendant, and his securities on on bond or the bond, for the amount which the court shall ascertain and due.

(i) Secs. 5 and 6, Chap. 1735, Act of Feb. 19, 1870.

the defendant

amount found

Lost papers,

ed as to nonresidents.

adjudge to be due on the execution and judgment thus lost and destroyed, and the officer levying an execution thus sued out, in lieu of the lost original, to return the same, together with the bond taken, to next ensuing term of court from which the lost or destroyed judgment or execution emanated, there to abide the final decision of the court. (j)

SEC. 28. Whenever it may be desired to establish copies of how establish lost papers under any statute of this State, when the party or parties against whom or against whose interest the establishment of a copy of the lost paper will operate resides beyond the limits of this State, or in parts unknown, it shall be lawful for the parties desiring to establish the same to give notice by publication in any newspaper of this State, which may, under the laws of this State, be authorized to publish legal notices, once a week, for the space of four months, and such notice shall set forth a description of the lost paper sufficiently definite fully to identify the same beyond a reasonable doubt, in lieu of a substantial copy of the same as now required by law: Provided, This shall not operate as a repeal of the special acts for the re-establishment of lost papers and records in the counties of Gadsden, Jackson, Columbia and St. Lucie, or other counties. (k)

Rafts of lumber

vertised.

SECTION 1. When any person or persons shall find any adrift to be se- raft or rafts of sawed, hewed or round lumber adrift, in cure and ad- any of the bays, rivers, lakes, bayous, lagunes, or creeks of this State, it shall be the duty of such person or persons to secure such raft or rafts in the place or places where found, or in the nearest place of safety, and to proceed as soon as possible thereafter to advertise the same at the door of the court

(j) Sec. 7, Chap. 1735, Act of Feb. 19,

(k) Chap. 2048, Act of 1875.

house of the county where found, stating the kind and probable quantity of lumber, the place or places where found, and where deposited. (a)

allowed to take

up lumber.

such cases.

SEC. 2. No person or persons other than the owner or owners, When persons or their appointed agents, shall hereafter stay or take possession of any such sawed lumber in rafts, hewn timber, round saw mill logs, or spars, before the same shall have reached the mouths or outlets of such rivers, and have passed out into the open sea or bays where they empty their waters, under the penalties imposed by the fourth section of this chapter. (b) SEC. 3. If, after the expiration of sixty days from the date of Mode of prothe advertising thereof, no person or persons shall have claimed ceeding in and established their right of property to said lumber, to the satisfaction of the Justice of the Peace, (to prove which right the person or persons claiming as the owner or owners of said lumber shall not be required to produce testimony upon oath to the identity thereof, but such circumstantial proof as the nature of the case admits,) then it shall and may be lawful for such person or persons finding the same to take it to the nearest market and deliver it to some acting Justice of the Peace, whose duty it shall be forthwith to sell the same to the best advantage; to pay to the finder or finders all necessary and reasonable expenses, to reserve to himself five per cent. as compensation for his services, and to place the balance in the hands of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, whose receipt he shall take. But if, before the expiration of the sixty days, the owner or owners shall appear and establish their right to said lumber, such owner or owners shall pay all expenses and reasonable charges for securing the same, to be determined, in case of difference between the parties, by an arbitrator appointed by each; but if, after the expiration of another term of sixty days, no right shall have yet been established to said lumber, then the balance of said money remaining in the hands of the clerk, shall be paid over, one-half to the person or persons claiming in consideration of the finding thereof, and the other half to the country treasurer, to be applied in common with other funds to county purposes. (c)

SEC. 4. If any person or persons finding any raft or rafts of What shall be lumber adrift, as aforesaid, shall take the same to any market held larceny. and sell it without complying with the provisions of Sections 1 and 3 of this chapter, or shall dispose of it in the place or places where found, as his or their lumber, such person or persons shall be deemed guilty of larceny and punished accordingly. (c)

SEC. 5. The restrictions herein contained shall not extend to Extent of law. lumber broken asunder from rafts and driven ashore on the

coast. (c)

SEC. 6. All persons floating lumber or timber down the cur- Lumber, &c.

(a) Sec. 1, Act of Feb. 10, 1834.

(b) Sec. 1, Chap. 507, Act of Jan. 8,

(c) Secs. 2, 3 and 4, Act of Feb. 10, 1834.