Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That in trials of actions upon contracts, express or implied, where the action is brought by partners or by joint payees or obligees, it shall not be necessary for the plaintiff, in order to maintain any such action, to prove the copartnership of the individuals named in such action, or to prove the christain or sir names of such partners, or joint payees or obligees, but the names of such copartners, joint payees or obligees shall be presumed to be truly set forth in the declaration, petition or bill: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent the defendant in any such action from pleading in abatement as heretofore, or of proving on the trial either that more persons ought to have been plantiffs, or that more persons have been made plaintiffs than have a legal right to sue, or that the christian or sir name is other and different from the one stated in the declaration, petition or bill, in which event the defendants’ rights shall be as at common law.

Sec. 2. On actions upon contracts, express or implied, against two or more defendants, alleged to have been made or executed by such defendants, as partners or joint obligors or payors, proof of the joint liability or partnership of the defendants, or their christian or sir names, shall not in the first instance be required to entitle the plaintiff to judgment, unless such proof shall be rendered necessary by pleading in abatement, or the filing of pleas denying the execution of such writing, verified by affidavit, as is required by the “Act concerning practice in courts of law,” approved on the twenty-ninth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.2 The act entitled “An act regulating evidence in certain cases,” approved, March second, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, be and the same is hereby repealed, and this act to be in force from and after the first day of February next.

Approved, February 17, 1841.