17. That a judicial record, when not conclusive, does still correctly determine, or set forth the rights of the parties:

18. That all matters, within an issue, were laid before the jury, and passed upon by them, and in like manner, that all matters, within a submission to arbitration, were laid before the arbitrators, and passed upon by them:

19. That private transactions have been fair and regular:

20. That the ordinary course of business has been followed:

21. That a promissory note or bill of exchange, was given or endorsed for a sufficient consideration:

22. That an endorsement of a negotiable promissory note or bill of exchange, was, made at the time and place of making the note or bill:

23. That a writing is truly dated:

24. That a letter duly directed and mailed, was received in the regular course of the mail:

25. Identity of person, from identity of name:

26. That a person not heard from in seven years is dead:

27. That an obligation under seal, to pay money more than twenty years past, has been extinguished:

28. That acquiescence followed from a belief, that the thing acquiesced in was conformable to the right or fact:

29. That things have happened, according to the ordinary course of nature, and the ordinary habits of

life:

30. That persons acting as copartners, have entered into a contract of copartnership:

31. That a man and woman, deporting themselves as husband and wife, have entered into a lawful contract of marriage:

32. That a wife, acting with her husband, in the commission of a felony other than murder, acted by coercion and without guilty intent:

33. That a child born in lawful wedlock, there being no divorce from bed and board, is legitimate:

34. That a thing once proved to exist, continues as long, as is usual with things of that nature:

35. That the law has been obeyed:

36. That a document or writing, more than thirty years old, is genuine, when the same has been since generally acted upon as genuine, by persons having an interest in the question, and its custody has been satisfactorily explained:

37. That a printed and published book, purporting to be printed or published by public authority, was so printed or published:

38. That a printed and published book, purporting to contain reports of cases adjudged in the tribunals of the state, or country, where the book is published, contains correct reports of such cases:

39. That an uninterrupted, adverse possession of real property for twenty years, or more, has been held pursuant to a written conveyance:

40. That a trustee or other person, whose duty it was to convey real property to a particular person, has actually conveyed to him, when such presumption is necessary to perfect the title of such person, or of his successor in interest:

41. The uninterrupted use by the public, of land, for, a burial ground, for ten years, with the consent of the owner, and without a reservation of his rights, is presumptive evidence of his intention to dedicate it to the public, for that purpose.

42. Every sale of personal property, capable of immediate delivery to the purchaser, and every assignment of such property, by way of mortgage or security, or upon any condition whatever, unless the same be accompanied by an immediate delivery, and be followed by an actual and continued change of possession, creates a presumption of fraud, as against the creditors of the seller or assignor, during his possession, or as against subsequent purchasers in good faith, disputable only by making it to appear on the part of the person claiming under such sale or assignment, that the same

was made in good faith, and without intent to defraud such creditors or purchasers:

43. When two persons perish in the same calamity, such as a wreck, a battle, or a conflagration, and it is not shown who died first, and there are no particular circumstances from which it can be inferred, survivorship is presumed, from the probabilities resulting from the strength, age, and sex, according to the following rules:

First. If both those who have perished were under the age of fifteen years, the older is presumed to have survived:

Second. If both were above the age of sixty years, the younger is presumed to have survived;

Third. If one be under fifteen and the other above sixty, the former is presumed to have survived:

Fourth. If both be over fifteen and under sixty, and the sexes be different, the male is presumed to have survived; if the sexes be the same, then the older;

Fifth. If one be under fifteen or over sixty, and the other between those ages, the latter is presumed to have survived.

CHAPTER VI.

INDISPENSABLE EVIDENCE.

SECTION 1781. Indispensable evidence, what.

1782. To prove usage, perjury, and treason, more than one witness required.

1783. Will to be in writing.

1784. How revoked.

1785. Transfer of real property to be in writing.

1786. Last sections not to operate in certain cases.

1787. Authority to execute sealed instrument to be under seal.

1788. Transfer of vessel by writing.

1789. Agreement not in writing, when invalid.

1790. Representation of credit, by writing.

1791. Certain statutes not repealed.

§ 1781. The law makes certain evidence necessary to the validity of particular acts, or the proof of particular facts.

1782. Usage, perjury, and treason must be proved by the testimony of more than one witness; usage by the testimony of at least two witnesses; treason by the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act; and perjury by the testimony of two witnesses, or one witness and corroborating circumstances.

§ 1783. A last will and testament, except when made by a soldier, in actual military service, or by a mariner at sea, is invalid, unless it be in writing, and executed with such formalities as are required by law. Evidence, therefore, of such will cannot be received, without the written instrument itself, or secondary evidence of its contents, in the cases prescribed by law.