§ 351. Evidence as to common lands in the city of New York. In any
action or special proceeding involving a question as to the situs of any
lot of the common lands, so-called, in the city of New York, the court
may, upon the offer of any party, receive in evidence any evidence which
was received in the action heretofore prosecuted in the superior court
of the city of New York, by Russell D. Miner, and continued by the
personal representatives of the same Russell D. Miner, deceased, against
the city of New York, or in the action in such court between certain
heirs at law of the same Russell D. Miner, deceased, and Jacob Scholle
and others, and also the deposition of Isaac T. Ludlam, deceased,
verified before E. Henry Lacombe, as referee, upon the fourteenth day of
November, eighteen hundred seventy-eight, in an action in such court by
Hester Sherman and others, against Thomas Kane and others; provided that
the testimony of a witness shall not be admissible, under the provisions
of this section until the court is satisfied that such witness has
heretofore died; and provided further, that no provision of this section
shall give to any documentary evidence introduced in connection with any
former testimony any greater or different effect than may be due to it
by reason of the testimony relative thereto. Such evidence may be
introduced in any mode established by the practice of the courts for the
introduction of testimony given upon a former trial, by a witness who
has since died, or by reading from the printed cases on appeal,
heretofore filed in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the
city of New York.