It shall be lawful, in every court of this State, for any party, plaintiff or defendant, to produce in evidence certified copies of grants under the authority of the state of North Carolina; provided, however, that the person or persons so applying to produce an office copy of a grant in evidence swear that the original grant is lost, destroyed or out of his power to produce and that he has not destroyed, mislaid or in any way willingly, previous to that time, put it out of his power to produce the same with an intention to produce an office copy of the same in evidence.

Nothing herein contained shall be construed to deprive any person in possession of the original grant of any advantage he would have had or derived from possessing the same in case this section had never been passed.