984 EVIDENCE. [ART. 35

1904, art. 35, sec. 51. 1888, art 35, sec. 46. 1860, art. 37, sec. 45.
1785, ch. 46, sec. 6.

51. Nothing contained in this article shall preclude any debtor or
defendant from controverting any proof offered in pursuance of the
provisions thereof by any testimony which is legal and admissible by
the rules of the common law, or prevent any creditor or plaintiff from
giving any evidence admissible by the rules of the common law in sup-
port of his claim; or pursuing any legal mode other than herein pre-
scribed to prove and establish his claim or demand.

Public Statutes and Office Copies and Official Certificates.

Ibid. sec. 52. 1888, art. 35, sec. 47. 1860, art. 37, sec. 46.
1829, ch. 219.

52. The private laws and resolutions published by the authority of
this State may be read in evidence from the printed statute book.

Ibid. sec. 53. 1888, art. 35, sec. 48. 1860, art. 37, sec. 47. 1845, ch. 89.
1849, ch. 38. 1898, ch. 342.

53. The public or private statutes of the United States or of any
State or territory of the United States or of the united kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland may be read in evidence from any printed
volume purporting to contain the statutes of the said United States,
State or territory of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland;
and the said printed volume shall in all cases be received as evidence
of said statutes without any further authentication or proof thereof.

Although the common or unwritten law of another state may be proved
as a fact by witnesses acquainted therewith, the statute law of another state
can only be proven as provided in this section, or by an authenticated copy
of the law. Zimmerman v. Helser, 32 Md. 278.

Our courts do not take Judicial notice of the laws of another state, and
.the mere reading of such law to the court in argument, is not sufficient to
make it evidence; this section must be complied with. Mandru v. Ashby, 108
Md. 695.

Where the book, from which a statute of another state is proposed to be
read, purports to contain the statutes of such state and to have been "pub-
lished for the state of Ohio and distributed to its ofllcers under the act of
the general assembly, passed March 16, 1860," such volume is strictly within
the meaning of this section, and therefore admissible in evidence. Harry-
man v. Roberts, 52 Md. 76.

Cited but not construed in Eastwood v. Kennedy, 44 Md. 570; Fouke v.
Fleming, 13 Md. 413.

Ibid. sec. 54. 1888, art. 35, sec. 49. 1860, art. 37, sec. 48.
1852, ch. 42.

54. The ordinances and resolutions of the mayor and city council
of Baltimore may be read in evidence from the printed volumes thereof
published by the authority of said corporation, and a copy of the plot
of the city of Baltimore from the record thereof in the mayor's office
or from the record thereof in the office of the clerk of the superior court
of said city, duly certified under seal by the keeper of such records,
respectively, shall be evidence.