Real Property Actions & Proceedings

ARTICLE 3
PROVISIONS RELATING TO EVIDENCE
Section 301. Conveyance and record as evidence.
311. Presumption of possession from legal title.
321. Proof of ownership of unoccupied lands and timber thereon.
331. Proof of lost execution or writ after sheriff`s sale of
real property.
341. Recitals as to heirships in conveyances.
342. Recitals in judgments affecting title to real property as
evidence.
351. Evidence as to common lands in the city of New York.

S 301. Conveyance and record as evidence. 1. The certificate of the
acknowledgment or of the proof of a conveyance, or the record, or the
transcript of the record, of such a conveyance, is not conclusive, and
it may be rebutted, and the effect thereof may be contested, by a party
affected thereby.
2. If it appears that the acknowledgment or proof was taken upon the
oath of an interested or incompetent witness, the conveyance, or the
record or transcript of the record thereof, shall not be received in
evidence until its execution is established by other competent proof,
except in a case where the title to the land conveyed or affected by
such conveyance or instrument has passed to a subsequent purchaser for a
valuable consideration.

S 311. Presumption of possession from legal title. In an action to
recover real property or the possession thereof, the person who
establishes a legal title to the premises is presumed to have been
possessed thereof within the time required by law; and the occupation of
the premises by another person is deemed to have been under and in
subordination to the legal title unless the premises have been held and
possessed adversely to the legal title for ten years before the
commencement of the action.

S 321. Proof of ownership of unoccupied lands and timber thereon. In
all actions to recover the possession of, or otherwise to determine the
title to, or for trespass upon or injury to, unoccupied lands, timber,
trees, or underwood thereon, any party seeking such recovery or
determination may show an unbroken chain of title for twenty years, or
conveyance of the land to himself more than twenty years next preceding
the commencement of the action or the assertion of the defense or
counterclaim except in actions for trespass, and in actions for trespass
for twenty years next preceding the commission of the trespass or
injury, and such proof shall be presumptive evidence of ownership at the
times respectively of the commencement of such action or assertion of
the defense or counterclaim or commission of such trespass or injury.
Such presumption may be rebutted by any other or opposing party by
showing ownership of said lands, at the times respectively of the
commencement of the action or the commission of the trespass or injury,
in some person other than the party claiming ownership by virtue of such
presumption. In any such action wherein the state, or any county or any
state officer, board or commission shall be a party, evidence as
aforesaid shall not be deemed to create any presumption of ownership as
against said designated parties.

S 331. Proof of lost execution or writ after sheriff`s sale of real
property. Whenever, upon the trial of an action, it shall appear that
at least ten years theretofore real property has been sold by a sheriff
for enforcement of the valid lien thereon of a duly docketed judgment,
and that a certificate of the sale has been duly made by the sheriff and
filed, and that a conveyance in completion of the purchase has been
executed and recorded, but that the execution or writ by virtue of which
the sale has so been made cannot be found in the office of the clerk
with whom the same should have been filed, then and in such case the
recital of or reference to such execution or writ contained in the said
certificate, or in the said conveyance, or in the record thereof, shall
be prima facie evidence of the said execution or writ and of the
issuance of the same as against any party whose claim of title is not
shown to have been accompanied or supported by peaceable possession of
the premises in controversy for at least three years immediately
preceding the commencement of the action.

S 341. Recitals as to heirships in conveyances. Hereafter, in any
special proceeding or action in any of the courts of this state, any
deed, mortgage, lease, release, power of attorney or other instrument
more than ten years old, executed for the purpose of transferring the
title to or interest in lands, tenements or hereditaments situated
within this state, which contains recitals that the grantors, grantees,
or either, or both, are the heirs at law of a prior owner of the title
or interest described in said instrument, or a survivor of a tenancy by
the entirety or joint tenancy, shall be presumptive evidence of said
heirship, or of such survivorship, as therein recited, if such
instrument be duly acknowledged or witnessed and proved in any manner
required or permitted at the date of the execution thereof, and be duly
recorded in any county where any part of the lands described therein
shall be located, or duly recorded in the office of the secretary of
state of the state of New York.

S 342. Recitals in judgments affecting title to real property as
evidence. In any action or special proceeding in any of the courts of
this state, a judgment, decree or order of any court of record, or made
by a judge of any court of record in this state, in any action affecting
the title of real property, which contains recitals that any acts were
done or proceedings had which were necessary to give to such court or
judge jurisdiction or power to grant such judgment, decree or order,
shall be presumptive evidence that such acts were duly performed or
proceedings duly had, if such judgment, decree or order shall have been
duly entered or filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which
the action or special proceeding was pending wherein such judgment,
decree or order was granted.

S 351. Evidence as to common lands in the city of New York. In any
action or special proceeding involving a question as to the situs of any
lot of the common lands, so-called, in the city of New York, the court
may, upon the offer of any party, receive in evidence any evidence which
was received in the action heretofore prosecuted in the superior court
of the city of New York, by Russell D. Miner, and continued by the
personal representatives of the same Russell D. Miner, deceased, against
the city of New York, or in the action in such court between certain
heirs at law of the same Russell D. Miner, deceased, and Jacob Scholle
and others, and also the deposition of Isaac T. Ludlam, deceased,
verified before E. Henry Lacombe, as referee, upon the fourteenth day of
November, eighteen hundred seventy-eight, in an action in such court by
Hester Sherman and others, against Thomas Kane and others; provided that
the testimony of a witness shall not be admissible, under the provisions
of this section until the court is satisfied that such witness has
heretofore died; and provided further, that no provision of this section
shall give to any documentary evidence introduced in connection with any
former testimony any greater or different effect than may be due to it
by reason of the testimony relative thereto. Such evidence may be
introduced in any mode established by the practice of the courts for the
introduction of testimony given upon a former trial, by a witness who
has since died, or by reading from the printed cases on appeal,
heretofore filed in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the
city of New York.