CHAPTER 457

An Act to amend and reenact § 16.1-92, as amended, of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to the removal of certain civil actions involving more
than three hundred dollars from courts not of record. rH 855]

Approved April 2, 1968
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 16.1-92, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted as follows:

§ 16.1-92. When the amount in controversy in any action at law
except cases of unlawful entry and detainer in a court not of record
exceeds the sum of three hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, attorney’s
fees contracted for in the instrument, and costs, the judge shall, at any
time on or before the return day of the process, or within ten days after
such return day, if trial of the case has not commenced or if judgment
has not been rendered, upon the application of any defendant, the filing by
him of an affidavit of himself, his agent or attorney, that he has a substan-
tial defense to the action, which affidavit shall state the grounds of such
defense, and the payment by him of the costs accrued to the time of
removal, the writ tax as fixed by law, and the costs in the court to which
it is removed as fixed by subsection * (17) of * § 14.1-122, remove the
action and all the papers thereof to a court having jurisdiction of appeals
from the court wherein the action was brought; and the clerk if there be
one, or the judge if there be no clerk of the court, shall promptly transmit
the papers in the case and the writ tax and costs to the clerk of the court to
which the action is removed. If the defendant fails to pay the accrued
costs, writ tax, and the costs in the court to which the case is removed
at the time the application for removal is filed, the judge shall proceed to
try the case.

On the trial of the case in the court of record the proceedings shall
conform as nearly as may be to proceedings prescribed by the Rules of
Court for other actions at law, but the court may permit all necessary
amendments, enter such orders, and direct such proceedings as may be
necessary or proper to correct any defects, irregularities and omissions in
the pleadings and bring about a trial of the merits of the controversy.