Illinois Code § 24

§ 24.

Whenever, upon the trial of any suit or proceeding which is now or hereafter may be pending in any court in this state any party to such suit or proceeding, or his agent or his attorney in his behalf, shall orally in court or by affidavit to be filed in such cause, testify and state under oath that the originals of any deeds or other instrument in writing, or records of any court relating to any lands, the title or any interest therein, being in controversy in such suit or proceeding, are lost or destroyed, or not within the power of the party to produce the same, and that the records thereof are destroyed by fire or otherwise, it shall be lawful for such party to offer, and the court shall receive as evidence any abstract of title, or letter-press copy thereof, made in the ordinary course of business prior to such loss or destruction, and it shall also be lawful for any such party to offer, and the court shall receive as evidence, any copy, extracts of minutes from such destroyed records, or from the originals thereof, which were, at the date of such destruction or loss, in the possession of persons then engaged in the business of making abstracts of title for others for hire. A sworn copy of any writing admissible under this section made by the person or persons having possession of such writing, shall be admissible in evidence in like manner, and with like effect, as such writing, provided the party desiring to use such sworn copy as evidence shall have given the opposite party a reasonable opportunity to verify the correctness of such copy. (Source: Laws 1887, p. 258.)