
    Mary Linning, et al. v. William Crawford.
    The affidavit of the loss of the original grant, required by the act of 1803, in order to authorize the introduction of an office copy in evidence, need not be made at the time of the trial, provided it is made after the commencement of the suit.
    -date, p, 396.
    Tried before Mr. Justice Martin, at Abbeville, Fall Term, 1831.
    Trespass to try title. The' plaintiffs claimed under a grant to Edward Blake, and offered in evidence a certified copy from the records in the office of the Secretary of State, upon affidavit, made by all the plaintiffs, of the loss, &e., of the original, as required by the act of 1803, 2 Faust, 498. The defendant objected to the admissibility of the copy, on the ground that the affidavit was not made at the time of the trial. The presid_ , „ . . . , ,., mg Judge was of opinion, that the act did not require, nor was it ever intended, that all the plaintiffs should be present in Court to make the affidavit; particularly when there was no pretence, that the original grant had come into the possession of the plaintiffs after the affidavit was made. He therefore overruled the objection, and the plaintiffs obtained a verdict; which the defendant now moved to set aside, on the ground, that the copy of the grant was improperly admitted in evidence.
    Burt, for the motion.
   O’Neall, J.

This Court concurs in opinion with the presiding Judge. The affidavit must be made in the cause, and therefore must be made after the commencement of the suit; but there seems to be no other limitation as to the time at which it must be made.

Johnson, J. concurred.

Motion refused.  