Section 40-1-16
Copies of books, records, papers, etc., admitted in evidence.
In any action against any tax assessor, tax collector, judge of probate, or other officer charged with the performance of any duties under this title and his sureties, or either, for failure to pay over any money collected by him for the state or to perform any other duty required of him by law, a copy of any bond, record, book, paper, contract, return, or other document, or of the official statement of any account between him and the state in the Office of the Comptroller, Treasurer, State Land Commissioner, or Department of Revenue properly certified by such officer, if the original is in his office under seal of the office, shall be received as evidence in any case in which the original would be competent, unless the defendant shall deny under oath that he made or executed such original.
(Acts 1935, No. 194, p. 256; Code 1940, T. 51, §895.)