R. S. 3005-Acts

EDITING AND INDEXING DECISIONS OF SUPREME COURT.

Act 87, 1900, p. 135.

AN ACT to provide for the editing and indexing of the Supreme Court decisions.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, That the State printer be and he is hereby authorized to contract with a competent lawyer, who must be approved by the judges. of the Supreme Court, to edit and index the decisions of the Supreme Court before publication thereof, under the direction of said judges, at a rate of compensation not exceeding twelve hundred dollars a year. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, etc., That the compensation of the lawyer so contracted with shall be paid out of the general fund, on monthly warrants, issued by the Auditor of Public Accounts upon the production of voucher of the State printer.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, etc., That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with or inconsistent with any of the provisions of this act be and the same are hereby repealed.

State ex rel. Thorpe vs. Frazee, 105 La. 250.
Const., Art. 92.

STATIONERY FOR OFFICERS-ORLEANS.

Act 132, 1880, p. 179.

AN ACT to provide the necessary stationery for the various judicial and other officers of the Parish of Orleans.

[Stationery for Orleans-Advertisement, etc.]

SECTION 1. That in order to supply the necessary stationery to the various clerks, sheriffs, constables, and the register of conveyances and recorder of mortgages for the parish of Orleans, it shall be the duty of the Governor, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, immediately after the passage of this act, and annually thereafter, to advertise for proposals to furnish during the ensuing year, the necessary stationery under contract. That the proposal shall be advertised in the official journal once a week for four weeks, and at the expiration thereof the contract shall be adjudicated to the lowest responsible bidder, with the concurrence of the Governor, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, or any two of them.

[Details of Contract.]

SEC. 2. That the contract shall be for the furnishing from time to time, and only such quantities as required, of the various articles of stationery, at the prices fixed in said contract; provided, that the State

R. S. 3005-act 132, 1880 shall not be required to take, receive or pay for any stationery until the same has been called for and ordered in the manner hereinafter provided.

[Requisition by Officers for Stationery.]

SEC. 3. That whenever any clerk, sheriff or constable of the several courts in the parish of Orleans requires stationery of any kind he shall make out an exact detailed list of the articles required, and upon the approval thereof by the judge of said court that said articles are actually necessary, the Auditor of Public Accounts shall issue an order for such stationery to the party who shall have contracted to furnish the stationery, as hereinbefore provided for, and the articles shall thereupon be delivered to the officer requiring the same, and shall be receipted for by him.

[Same Subject.]

SEC. 4. That whenever the register of conveyances or recorder of mortgages for the parish of Orleans requires stationery he shall make out a detailed statement thereof, and shall annex his affidavit thereto, that the said articles of stationery are actually necessary for use in his office; whereupon the Auditor of Public Accounts shall issue his order upon the contractor for such stationery, and the same shall be delivered to the officer requiring the same, and be receipted for by him.

[Payment for Stationery, How Made.]

SEC. 5. That the stationery furnished by the contractor upon the orders and in the manner aforesaid shall be paid for by the State Treasurer out of the judicial expense fund of the parish of Orleans, upon the presentation of the list, approved or sworn to, with the warrant of the Auditor of Public Accounts and the receipt of the officer for the articles at the price fixed in the contract.

[Illegal Use, etc., of Stationery-Penalty.]

SEC. 6. That any officer or contractor who shall call for, approve, order, deliver, receipt or pay for any stationery, use or permit to be used for any other purpose than the public business of his office, or who shall remove, or appropriate to his own use, or permit to be appropriated or removed, any such stationery, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be punished by fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court, and his office shall, by such conviction, be ipso facto vacated.

See Act 138, 1894. Police jury of each parish to elect a public printer and fixing rates, printed at p. 1272.

R. S. 3005-Act 57, 1886

PUBLIC RECORDS.

Act 57, 1886, p. 92.

AN ACT to provide for the restoration of public records and other papers destroyed by fire or in any other way.

[Restoration of Records-Procedure.]

SECTION 1 That where any original papers appertaining to a suit pending in any District Court, in and for any parish in the State of Louisiana, has been or may hereafter be destroyed by the burning of the court-house of said parish, or destroyed in any other manner, said suits, together with all the papers, pleadings, bonds and other documents filed therein and making part thereof, may be revived and reinstated by either plaintiff or defendant filing with the clerk of said court a duly certified copy of the original petition, or by motion in open court, or in chambers, served on the opposite party, which motion shall contain the name and residence of the parties, the nature of the demand and cause of action, and the date of the filing of the original petition and service of citation, as near as can be ascertained, together with a statement of the pleading had in the suit, orders made and bonds filed, accompanied by affidavit of the parties, or their attorneys, as to the truth of the facts allowed; upon filing which motion a rule may be taken on the opposite party, to show cause, within ten days from the service thereof, why said suit, pleadings, orders of court and bonds should not be reinstated.

If answer is made to said rule it shall be accompanied by the affidavit of the party or his attorney, as to the truth of the facts stated by him, and it shall be sufficient for either party to swear to the best of his knowledge and belief.

[Issue of Execution, etc., on Certified Copy or Statement Under Oath.]

SEC. 2. That upon the production of a certified copy of any original judgment, either of the District Court, Parish Court, Circuit Court, Supreme Court, or certified copies of the same from the record of judicial mortgages, the clerk of the court of said parish where such destruction has taken place is hereby authorized to issue execution thereon; and where no copy exists, the owner of the said judgment, or his attorney, may obtain execution thereon upon presenting to the clerk of the court a statement, under oath, of the amount of such judgment or the balance due thereon; provided, that this section shall not be construed to prevent judgment from being established as other records provided for by this act.

R. R. 3005-Act 57, 1886 [Proceeding to Re-establish Certain Documents for Recordation, etc.] SEC. 3. That any person desiring to re-establish any deed, bond, mortgage, judgment, contract, or any other instrument of writing, of any kind or nature whatsoever, which was of record, or deposited in any public office, held in said courthouse, or in any other office or building, for the purpose of recordation in the proper office in said parish, and which was destroyed by fire, or in any other way; may have the evidence of the same re-established and revived by applying to the District Court of said parish by petition, under oath, in which he shall describe the instrument or document, sought to be revived, with as much certainty as possible; which petition with a citation. shall be served on the party or parties, made defendant in said petition, as having an interest adverse to the plaintiff in the matter of the suit, or in the original document sought to be revived if he be a resident; if an absentee, it shall be set forth in the petition, under oath, and the judge shall appoint a curator ad hoc to represent the absentee, upon whom service shall be made; provided, that in case of the death of the vendor, mortgagor, obligor, debtor, or other original party in interest in, or connected with, the original document, sought to be revived, then service shall be made on his heirs and legal representatives, and, that in all cases requiring service of petition and citation, under this section, it will be sufficient to cause service of same to be made on the defendant, either in person, or by publication of a notice, of said application in any newspaper published in the parish, at the option of the plaintiff; which notice shall be in the form of a citation to the defendant and shall contain a brief and clear statement of the object and intent of the demand, the name of the party having an adverse interest in the instrument of writing, sought to be revived, or who held title to any realty claimed at any time anterior to the party applying, as far as known; and the delay in which the party made defendant shall be required to answer; provided, further, that in case the service be made in person, the delay to answer shall be the same as now prescribed by law in ordinary civil action.

If service be made by publication, as above set forth, the same shall be published in any newspaper of the parish, at least once a week for two consecutive weeks, and the last publication to be, at least, six weeks before the case be heard. And in case there be no newspaper published in the parish in which the action is filed, then the publication of the notice as above required will be made in any newspaper in any adjoining parish. (As amended by Act 30, 1900, p. 35.)

[Issue-Trial and Judgment on Application to Re-establish.]

SEC. 4. That the party defendant in such application shall have the same delay as in other writs, and his answer, which shall be under oath, must either admit of the facts as stated in the petition, or deny

R. S. 3005-Act 57, 1886 the same wholly or partially; whereupon the judge shall proceed to trial, and after hearing evidence shall render judgment establishing or not such deed, bond, mortgage, judgment, or other instrument of writing, as the evidence proves to have existed, and no other issue is to be tried but the existence or non-existence of the document sought to be established; and when so established, it shall be executory and shall have the same force and effect as the original could have.

[Evidence.]

SEC. 5. That the oath of the plaintiff to the allegations of his petition shall be prima facie evidence of the existence and contents of such deed, bond, mortgage, judgment or other instrument of writing, but may be rebutted by the denial, under oath, of the defendant.

[Costs.]

SEC. 6. That the costs incurred in suits to establish such instrument shall be paid by the plaintiff when there is no opposition, but if opposition be made it shall be paid by the party cast.

[Effect of Record of Certified Copies, etc.]

SEC. 7. That the recording of any certified copy of any judgment, in the office of the clerk of the District Court, ex officio recorder of mortgages or conveyances of said parish, establishing any deed, bond, mortgage, judgment or other instrument of writing, shall have the same force and effect as the recording of the original deed, bond, mortgage, judgment or other instrument of writing, which was destroyed by the burning of any court-house or any other house in which public records are deposited in said parish, or destroyed in any other way. [Costs.]

SEC. 8. That in all cases in which there are costs due any clerk, sheriff, parish recorder or other officer, they shall be allowed as in other cases upon such officer making a specific bill of costs certified under oath.

[Parol Evidence to Establish Existence of Original.]

SEC. 9. That the provisions of this Act shall not prevent the establishment of any judgment or any other instrument of writing, by parol evidence, where the original record has been destroyed by the burning of said court-house or any other place of deposit of public records, or destroyed in any other way in said parish.

[Certified Copies, etc., as Evidence.]

SEC. 10. That certified copies from the record of any deed, bond, mortgage, or other instrument of writing shall be admissible as evidence, and shall have the same force and effect as certified copies of the original.