586

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

Shall not be

promissory note, bill of exchange, bill of lading,

precluded.

warehouse or storage receipt, or other negotiable

instrument, shall be precluded from so recovering

by reason of his inability from any cause, to produce

such instrument in evidence at the trial, or sur-

Proviso

render the same to the defendant; provided always,

that the absence of such instrument shall be suffi-

ciently accounted for, under the ordinary rules of evi-

dence, to allow the introduction of secondary proof

of the contents thereof at the trial, and that no

judgment thereupon shall be entered for the plaintiff

in such suit until a good and sufficient bond shall

have been first filed therein by the plaintiff, or on

his behalf, in such penalty and with such surety or

sureties as the court shall approve, conditioned to

hold and keep the defendant harmless, upon satis-

faction of the judgment by him, to the same effect

and intent as if said missing instrument where then

and there produced and surrendered to him, and

the costs in all such cases shall .be adjudged by the

court, in its discretion, as may be equitable.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act

Proviso.

shall take effect immediately from and after its

passage.

Approved April 7, 1876.

CHAPTER 346.

AN ACT providing for a State subscription to J.

Thomas Scharf's History of Maryland.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of

Maryland, That the State Librarian be and he is

Authorized
and di reeled

hereby authorized and directed to subscribe, in the

to subscribe.

name of the State, for three hundred copies of

Scharf 's History of Maryland, when published by J.

Thomas Scharf; provided, any three Judges of the

Court of Appeals shall certify under their hands