§ 16. Proceedings as to evidence in appropriation cases. 1. Upon the
trial of any claim for the appropriation of real property or an interest
therein, evidence of the price and other terms upon any sale, or of the
rent reserved and other terms upon any lease, relating to any property
taken or to be taken or to any other property in the vicinity thereof
shall be relevant, material and competent, upon the issue of value or
damage and shall be admissible on direct examination, if the court shall
find (1) that such sale or lease was made within a reasonable time of
the vesting of title in the state, (2) that it was made in good faith in
the ordinary course of business, and (3) in case such sale or lease
relates to other than property taken or to be taken, that it relates to
property which is similar to the property taken or to be taken;
provided, however, that no such evidence shall be admissible as to any
sale or lease, unless at least twenty days before the trial the attorney
for the party proposing to offer such evidence shall have served either
personally or by mail a written notice in respect of such sale or lease,
which said notice shall specify the names and addresses of the parties
to the sale or lease, the date of making of the same, the location of
the premises, the office, liber and page of the record of the same, if
recorded, and the purchase price or rent reserved and other material
terms; or unless such sale or lease shall have occurred within twenty
days before the trial. Such notice by the attorney-general shall be
served upon all claimants or their attorneys named in the claim; or if
served on behalf of a claimant, shall be served upon the
attorney-general and upon all other claimants or their attorneys named
in the claim. Where the court has received and accepted evidence of the
price and other terms upon any sale or of the rent reserved and other
terms upon any lease of property in the vicinity of the parcel taken,
the court may, in its discretion, view such properties.

2. Upon the trial evidence showing the amount or valuation for which
each parcel of such real property taken has been assessed for purposes
of taxation on the city, town or village assessment rolls, wherein the
real property is situated, for each of the three years preceding the
date of said taking shall be received in evidence, such assessed
valuation, in case only part of an entire plot in a single ownership is
to be acquired, shall include the valuation of all buildings encroaching
upon or within the bounds of the taking provided, however, that when
offered such evidence shall be subject to objection upon any legal
ground.