When the witness or witnesses appear before the clerk, the clerk shall propound to them such questions as the clerk may find requisite to establish the facts necessary to authenticate the instrument, whether it be the identity of the maker, the maker's handwriting, or the handwriting of a nonresident or deceased witness.
Code 1858, § 2057 (deriv. Acts 1831, ch. 90, § 2); Shan., § 3734; Code 1932, § 7649; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 64-2316.