168 LAWS OF MARYLAND [CH. 77

of business and public records as evidence and making uni-
form the law with reference thereto.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That a new section be and it is hereby added to Article
35 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1947 Supplement),
title "Evidence", sub-title "Proof of Accounts", said new sec-
tion to be known as Section 68A, to follow immediately after
Section 68 of said Article, and to read as follows:

68A. (a) If any business, institution, member of a profession
or calling, or any department or agency of government, in the
regular course of business or activity has kept or recorded
any memorandum, writing, entry, print, representation or
combination thereof, of any act, transaction, occurrence or
event, and in the regular course of business has caused any or
all of the same to be recorded, copied or reproduced by any
photographic, photostatic, microfilm, micro-card, miniature
photographic, or other process which accurately reproduces
or forms a durable medium for so reproducing the original,
the original may be destroyed in the regular course of busi-
ness unless held in a custodial or fiduciary capacity or unless
its preservation is required by law. Such reproduction, when
satisfactorily identified, is as admissible in evidence as the
original itself in any judicial or administrative proceeding
whether the original is in existence or not and an enlarge-
ment or facsimile of such reproduction is likewise admissible
in evidence if the original reproduction is in existence and
available for inspection under direction of the court. The
introduction of a reproduced record, enlargement or facsimile,
does not preclude admission of the original.

(b) This section shall be so interpreted and construed as to
effectuate its general purpose of making uniform the law of
those states which enact it.

(c) This section may be cited as the Uniform Photographic
Copies of Business and Public Records as Evidence Act.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all laws or parts of
laws, whether public general or public local, inconsistent with
the provisions of this Act be and they are hereby repealed to
the extent of such inconsistency.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take
effect June 1, 1951.

Approved March 14, 1951.