Section 12-20-30
Substitution of lost, etc., papers or records in civil cases - How made - Where deed, contract, conveyance or other instrument involved.
If the record of a deed, contract, conveyance or other instrument, the record of which is by law required or authorized, is lost, mislaid, destroyed or mutilated, the original of such deed, contract, conveyance or instrument may be recorded again, and such record shall have relation to, and be operative from, the day the original record was operative. If the original is lost, mislaid, destroyed or mutilated, a copy thereof may be recorded on proof of its correctness of the record and of the loss or destruction of the original, and the record of such copy shall have relation to, and be operative from, the day the original record was operative. But in case of the loss or destruction of the original, an application for the record of the copy must be made to the court or successor of the court in which the original record was made and notice thereof given to the party in adverse interest, as prescribed in Section 12-20-29.
(Code 1867, §§652, 653; Code 1876, §§559, 560; Code 1886, §661; Code 1896, §2650; Code 1907, §5742; Code 1923, §10135; Code 1940, T. 7, §11.)