Section 12-21-97 Pre-1879 Documents or Certified Copies Executed by Governor as Evidence of Sale or Transfer of State Lands.

(a) All documents executed prior to February 12, 1879, by the Governor, in person or in his name by his secretary, purporting to convey any of the state’s lands which are ineffective as patents or conveyances because of not being executed as provided by law or for any other reason and which recite either the payment of the purchase money for the lands attempted to be conveyed thereby or the deposit of a receipt or certificate of the officer authorized to receive the money acknowledging that such payment has been made shall be admissible in evidence in any case affecting the title to such lands and shall be prima facie evidence of any sale or transfer of said lands there recited and of the payment of the purchase money thereof. (b) A duly certified copy of the record of any such document which has been recorded for as much as 10 years in the office of the probate judge of the county in which is situated the land attempted to be conveyed thereby likewise shall be admissible in evidence and shall have the same probative effect as the original document.