8-1211.State land sales.

This section sets out how to prove sales of state-owned lands and lots, and separately, swamp and overflowed lands sold under county authority, addressing what happens when the underlying transaction records are unavailable.

At the base level, certified copies of the books and entries of sale, made by the proper custodian, serve as prima facie evidence of the facts they state. An officer's certificate of a purchase or of the issuing of a patent is likewise evidence of title in the certified purchaser or that person's legatees, heirs, or assigns, unless a better and paramount title is exhibited; a patent for land remains the better and paramount title compared to such a certificate.

For swamp and overflowed lands specifically, if the original deed is lost, was never recorded, and is unavailable to the party who needs it, an officer's certificate describing the sale or entry and the deed's execution, including the relevant dates, the purchaser's name, and the land description, may be read in evidence in the deed's place, serving as prima facie evidence of the deed's execution and delivery and of title until a better and paramount title is shown.

As a last resort for swamp and overflowed land sales specifically, if the original deed is lost or unavailable and was never recorded, and even the books and original entries of sale have also been lost or destroyed, and the circuit clerk or other proper officer had made the required return of those sales and entries to the State Comptroller, a certified copy of that return by the Comptroller, under seal, may be used in evidence with the same force and effect as the earlier tiers of proof. The statute does not extend this Comptroller-return fallback to ordinary state land sales outside the swamp-and-overflowed-land category.