(765 ILCS 45/24) (from Ch. 116, par. 28)
Sec. 24.
Whenever, upon the trial of any suit or proceeding which is now or
hereafter may be pending in any court in this state any party to such suit
or proceeding, or his agent or his attorney in his behalf, shall orally in
court or by affidavit to be filed in such cause, testify and state under
oath that the originals of any deeds or other instrument in writing, or
records of any court relating to any lands, the title or any interest
therein, being in controversy in such suit or proceeding, are lost or
destroyed, or not within the power of the party to produce the same, and
that the records thereof are destroyed by fire or otherwise, it shall be
lawful for such party to offer, and the court shall receive as evidence any
abstract of title, or letter-press copy thereof, made in the ordinary
course of business prior to such loss or destruction, and it shall also be
lawful for any such party to offer, and the court shall receive as
evidence, any copy, extracts of minutes from such destroyed records, or
from the originals thereof, which were, at the date of such destruction or
loss, in the possession of persons then engaged in the business of making
abstracts of title for others for hire. A sworn copy of any writing
admissible under this section made by the person or persons having
possession of such writing, shall be admissible in evidence in like manner,
and with like effect, as such writing, provided the party desiring to use
such sworn copy as evidence shall have given the opposite party a
reasonable opportunity to verify the correctness of such copy.
(Source: Laws 1887, p. 258.)
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