Section 12August 30, 1954, Sec./Art. 12

Form and Registration of Contract. - A contract of tenancy in writing, in order to be conclusive as evidence, shall be drawn in quadruplicate in the language or dialect known to all the parties thereto and signed or thumb-marked both by the landholder or his authorized representative, and the tenant himself, before two witnesses, one to be chosen by each party. If any of the parties does not know to read, one of the witnesses, to be chosen by him, shall read the contents of the document to him.

Each of the contracting parties shall retain a copy of the contract and the third and fourth copies shall be delivered to the municipal treasurer of the municipality where the land which is the subject-matter of the contract is located, who shall file and register the third copy in his office and forward the fourth copy to the court: Provided, That in order that a tenancy contract may be registered, it shall be the duty of the municipal treasurer and tenant, respectively, and to place an annotation on each copy of the fact of registration in his office, stating the date, time and place of registration as well as the entry or registration number.

The form of contract shall be uniform and shall be prepared and furnished by the court. The contracting parties shall acknowledge the execution of the contracting before the municipal treasurer or justice of the peace or the mayor of the municipality where the land is situated. No fees or stamps of any kind shall be paid or required.

When one of the parties is unable to read, in case of doubt the burden of proof to show that he understood the terms of the contract shall rest upon the other party who is able to read.