Right to view premises before testimony is submitted.

On motion of either party, the jury, under the care of an officer of the court and with such persons as the court may designate to show them the premises, and before any testimony shall be submitted, except the plat and a survey of the improvement and the title papers of the claimant, if produced, which the jury may take with them, shall examine the route or location of the road improvement as petitioned for or ordered, and after making such examination the jury shall return to the court at the time appointed. After the jury has returned the parties shall offer their evidence to it, under the direction of the court, upon the matters appealed from. The rules of law and procedure governing civil cases in the court of common pleas apply to the trial of the cause in the probate court.