It shall be the duty of the prothonotary of each county, upon receiving any descriptive list as aforesaid,¹ to provide a suitable docket, with a proper index, for the purpose of recording all such descriptions of unpatented lands, and shall accurately record the same and index the name of the original warrantee or actual original settler, as the case may be, and each subsequent owner so far as ascertained, and preserve the same among the records of the county: Provided, That when any party in interest, by petition under oath or affirmation, setting out the facts in the case as in affidavit of defense, shall represent to the president judge of the court of common pleas of the county, in which any tract or piece of land, against which the entry directed in the foregoing section has been made, or the principal part thereof, may lie, that said tract has been patented, either in the name against which the entry is made, or in any other name, the said judge shall after such notice to the Surveyor General² as he shall deem proper, proceed to hear the case of the petitioner; and the said judge shall, thereupon, make such decree in the premises, either by directing the said entry to be struck from the record, or such other order as to said entry, and also, as to costs, as may seem equitable.