When any instrument is taken by or received under the sanction of the board of county commissioners, or by any person or persons acting under or in virtue of any public authority, purporting to be a bond executed to the State for the performance of any duty belonging to any office or appointment, such instrument, notwithstanding any irregularity or invalidity in the conferring of the office or making of the appointment, or any variance in the penalty or condition of the instrument from the provision prescribed by law, shall be valid and may be put in suit in the name of the State for the benefit of the person injured by a breach of the condition thereof, in the same manner as if the office had been duly conferred or the appointment duly made, and as if the penalty and condition of the instrument had conformed to the provisions of law: Provided, that no action shall be sustained thereon because of a breach of any condition thereof or any part of the condition thereof which is contrary to law. (1842, c. 61; R.C., c. 78, s. 9; 1869-70, c. 169, s. 16; Code, s. 1891; Rev., s. 279; C.S., s. 324.)