Chap. 149.—An ACT to amend the act passed March 18, 1861, entitled an
act to amend the Charter of the City of Richmond.

Passed February 7, 1866.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That sections
five, six, seven, nineteen, twenty-two, thirty, thirty-five, fifty-
one, fifty-four, sixty-eight, sixty-nine, eighty-two, ninety and
ninety-three of the act passed March the eighteenth, eighteen
hundred and sixty-one, entitled an act to amend the charter
of the city of Richmond, be amended and re-enacted so as
to read as follows:

Ҥ5. There shall be an election annually in each ward of
the said city, on the first Wednesday in April, for members
of the council; and there shall be an election in each ward,
on the first Wednesday in April next, and on the first Wed-
nesday in April in every fourth year thereafter, for a mayor
of said city and for the members of the court of hustings,
other than the judge thereof: and in the event of a failure
to hold either of the said elections on that day, then such
election shall be held on such day as the council may direct:
and there shall also be elected by the qualified voters of said
city, at such time and place as the council shall prescribe, a
judge of the court of hustings for said city, who shall hold
his office for the term of eight years, and shall receive such
compensation as may be allowed by the council: provided,
that his election shall not take place within thirty days of any
municipal or state election other than a state election for a
judge, and that his compensation shall not be diminished
during his term of oftice. The manner of conducting his
election, of making return thereof, of his qualification, of or-
dering new elections to fill vacancies in his office, and of de-
ciding contested elections, shall be prescribed by ordinance
of the council.”

“$6. The term of office of members of the council and
of the mayor, and other members of the court of hustings,
except the judge thereof, shall commence on the Saturday
after the election.”

Ҥ 7. At the next May term of the hustings court held by
the mayor, recorder and aldermen, and at the May term of
said court held in every fourth year thereafter, there shall be
appointed by said court a sergeant and a high constable for
said city, and at the May term of the hustings court held by
the mayor, recorder and aldermen next before the expiration
of the present term of office of the attorney for the com-
monwealth in said court, and a clerk of said court, there shall
be appointed by said court an attorney for the commonwealth
in said court and a clerk of said court. In the event of a
failure to hold aterm of said court in the month of May, or
to make any of said appointments, then such appointment
or appuintments shall be made at the next ensuing term of
said court. The term of oflive of the sergeant, hich consta-
ble, attorney for the commonwealth and clerk shall commence
on the first day of July next succeeding their appointment,
and shall continue for four years.”

“$19. The council shall certify to the court of hustings
held by the mayor, recorder and aldermen, the names of. the
persons elected from each ward as members of said court;
and the said court shall take from said sergeant and consta-
ble, respectively, a bond, in such penalty as it may deem fit,
conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties. The
council shall cause the several persons elected, to be notified
of their election; and the persons elected members of the
court of hustings shall elect, from among themselves, one
person as recorder and one as senior alderman of the city,
and certify such election to said court. The other persons
elected members of said court. shall be aldermen of the
city.”

“$22. If, during the term for which any person may have
been elected or appointed to any office herein mentioned, a
vacancy oceur In said ofhice otherwise than is mentioned in
the preceding section. or unless it be in the oftice of judge of
the hustings court, such vacancy may be filled by an appoint-
ment tor so much of said term as may be unexpired. Such
appointment shall be by the court of hustings held by the
mayor, recorder and aldermen, if 1t be in the office of attor-
ney for the commonwealth, clerk, sergeant, high constable,
recorder, senior alderman, or any other alderm: in; and. shall
in all other cases be by the people. The appointment, if the
vacancy be in the ofhve of recorder or senor alderman, shall
be from among the other members of the court; if in the
office of any other alderman, or of a member of the council,
trom amone the voters in the ward for which such alderman
or member of the council was elected; and if in any other
office, from among those who may be eligible thereto.”

“4 30. The council may appoint such oftticers as they may
deem proper, in addition to those hereinbetore provided for,
and define their powers, and preseribe their duties and com-
pensation; and may take from any of the officers so ap-
pointed, bonds with sureties, in such penalties as to the coun-
cil may seem fit, payable to the city. by its corporate name,
with condition for the faithful per/ormance of said duties.
All officers appointed by the council may be removed from
office at its pleasure.”

Ҥ 35. The council may erect or provide, in or near the
city, suitable workhouses, houses of correction, and houses
for the reception and maintenance of the poor and destitute.
They shall possess and exercise exclusive authority over all
persons, within the limits of the city, receiving or entitled to
the benefits of the poor laws; appoint officers and other per-

sons connected with the aforesaid institutions, and regulate

pauperism within the limits of the city; and the council,

through the agencies it shall appoint for the direction and

management of the poor of the city, shall exercise the powers

and perform the duties vested by law in overseers of the
oor.”

Ҥ51. The council may, on the petition of the owner or
owners of not less than one-fourth of the ground included in
any square of the city, prohibit the erection, in such square,
of any building, or addition to any building, unless the outer
walls thereof be made of brick and mortar, or stone and
mortar, and to provide for the removal of any such building
or addition, which shall be erected contrary to such pro-
hibition, at the expense of the builder or owner thereof; and
may provide for the regular and safe building of houses in
the city: and if any building shall have been commenced be-
fore said petition can be acted on by the council, or if a
building in progress appears clearly to be unsafe, the council
may have such buildings taken down.”

Ҥ54. The council may prevent hogs, dogs and other ani-
mals from running at large in the city, and may subject the
same to such confiscations, regulations and taxes as they may
deem proper; and the council may prohibit the raising or
keeping of hogs in the city.”

“$68. For the execution of its powers and duties, the
council may tax real estate in the city; all personal property
therein; all free persons over sixteen years of age; all cor-
porations located in the city, or having their principal office
therein, not exempt by law from taxation; all moneys owned
by, or credits due to any person living in the city; all capital
of persons having a place of business in the city, and doing
business therein, and employed in said business, though the
said business may extend beyond the city: provided, that so
much of said capital as is vested in real estate, or 1s: employed
in the manufacture of articles outside of the city limits, shall
not be taxed as capital; all stocks in incorporated joint stock
companies owned by persons living in the city, not exempt
by law from taxation; incomes, interest on money, dividends
of lands or other corporations owned by persons living in
the city: provided, that no capital, interest, income or divi-
dends shall be taxed when a license or other tax is imposed
upon the business in which the capital is employed, or upon
the principal money, credits or stock from which the interest,
income or dividend is derived; nor shall a tax be imposed at
the same time upon stock of a corporation, and upon the
dividends thereon.” :

Ҥ69. The council may tax the keepers of ordinaries,
houses of entertainment, boarding houses (public or private),

ublic eating houses, coffee houses, lager beer or other drink-
lng saloons, or cook shops; agents to rent out houses ; agents
to sell cattle, sheep or hogs; dealers in horses and mules;
keepers of livery stables; brokers, lawyers, physicians and
dentists: persons who keep a daguerrelan, photograph or am-
brotype gallery, and all who take pictures by light, or who
sell or barter any patent or specific or quack medicine; all
sellers of wine, or spirituous or fermented liquors; all manu-
facturers, merchants, traders and shopkeepers; and any other
person or employment upon whom or upon which the state
may at the time have imposed a license tax. And as to all
persons or employments embraced in this section, the council
may lay the tax directly; or may require them to take out a
license under such regulations as may be prescribed by ordt-
nance, and impose a tax thereon; but the taxes herein autho-
rized shall be subject to the provisos stated in the next pre-
ceding section.”

Ҥ 82. The said court, held by the judge, shall have original
jurisdiction of all felonies committed within the territorial
limits of its jurisdiction; and if a prisoner, put on his trial
for a felony, shall be found by the jury guilty of only a mis-
demeanor, the said court, held by the judve, shall have juris-
diction of the case; and it shall have appellate jurisdiction in
cases in which the constitutionality or validity of an ordi-
nance of the city is involved.”

Ҥ 90. The council may impose penalties for the violation
of this act or any of the ordinances of the city, not exceed-
ing five hundred dollars, and imprisonment, with or without
hard labor, not exceeding three months, for one offence. If
the penalty be above one hundred dollars, or imprisonment
for more than thirty days, it shall be prosecuted in the court
of hustings of the city, at the terms held by the mayor, re-
ccorder and aldermen; but any claim to a fine or penalty under
this act, or under any ordinance of the city, if it be limited
to an amount not exceeding one hundred dollars; and any
other claim against the city, or a person therein, if it does
not exceed one hundred dollars (exclusive of interest), shall
be cognizable in the mayor's court; and his judgement shall
be final in all civil cases where the matter in controversy, ex-
clusive of costs, is not more thah twenty dollars.

Ҥ 93. The mayor shall be the head of police of the city.
and shall have a general superintendence and control of said
police, pursuant to the ordinances of the city. When he is
absent from the city, or 18 so sick as to be unable to attend
to his duties, or the office is vacant, the recorder, or if he be
absent from the city, or is so sick as to be unable to attend
to his duties, or his office is vacant, the senior alderman shall
exercise all the powers of the mayor.”

2. The twenty-third and fifty-eighth sections of said act
are hereby repealed.

3. This act shall be submitted to the qualified voters of
said city, for adoption or rejection, on the first day of March,
eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and shall be in force and take
effect from the said election, if adopted by a majority of the
votes cast at such election. It shall be the duty of the coun-
cil of said city to make suitable provision and arrangement
for submitting this act to the qualified voters of the said city,
and to give public notice of the time and places when such
election will be held, and to ascertain and declare the result
thereof.
Chap. 149.—An ACT to amend the act passed March 18, 1861, entitled an
act to amend the Charter of the City of Richmond.

Passed February 7, 1866.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That sections
five, six, seven, nineteen, twenty-two, thirty, thirty-five, fifty-
one, fifty-four, sixty-eight, sixty-nine, eighty-two, ninety and
ninety-three of the act passed March the eighteenth, eighteen
hundred and sixty-one, entitled an act to amend the charter
of the city of Richmond, be amended and re-enacted so as
to read as follows:

Ҥ5. There shall be an election annually in each ward of
the said city, on the first Wednesday in April, for members
of the council; and there shall be an election in each ward,
on the first Wednesday in April next, and on the first Wed-
nesday in April in every fourth year thereafter, for a mayor
of said city and for the members of the court of hustings,
other than the judge thereof: and in the event of a failure
to hold either of the said elections on that day, then such
election shall be held on such day as the council may direct:
and there shall also be elected by the qualified voters of said
city, at such time and place as the council shall prescribe, a
judge of the court of hustings for said city, who shall hold
his office for the term of eight years, and shall receive such
compensation as may be allowed by the council: provided,
that his election shall not take place within thirty days of any
municipal or state election other than a state election for a
judge, and that his compensation shall not be diminished
during his term of oftice. The manner of conducting his
election, of making return thereof, of his qualification, of or-
dering new elections to fill vacancies in his office, and of de-
ciding contested elections, shall be prescribed by ordinance
of the council.”

“$6. The term of office of members of the council and
of the mayor, and other members of the court of hustings,
except the judge thereof, shall commence on the Saturday
after the election.”

Ҥ 7. At the next May term of the hustings court held by
the mayor, recorder and aldermen, and at the May term of
said court held in every fourth year thereafter, there shall be
appointed by said court a sergeant and a high constable for
said city, and at the May term of the hustings court held by
the mayor, recorder and aldermen next before the expiration
of the present term of office of the attorney for the com-
monwealth in said court, and a clerk of said court, there shall
be appointed by said court an attorney for the commonwealth
in said court and a clerk of said court. In the event of a
failure to hold aterm of said court in the month of May, or
to make any of said appointments, then such appointment
or appuintments shall be made at the next ensuing term of
said court. The term of oflive of the sergeant, hich consta-
ble, attorney for the commonwealth and clerk shall commence
on the first day of July next succeeding their appointment,
and shall continue for four years.”

“$19. The council shall certify to the court of hustings
held by the mayor, recorder and aldermen, the names of. the
persons elected from each ward as members of said court;
and the said court shall take from said sergeant and consta-
ble, respectively, a bond, in such penalty as it may deem fit,
conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties. The
council shall cause the several persons elected, to be notified
of their election; and the persons elected members of the
court of hustings shall elect, from among themselves, one
person as recorder and one as senior alderman of the city,
and certify such election to said court. The other persons
elected members of said court. shall be aldermen of the
city.”

“$22. If, during the term for which any person may have
been elected or appointed to any office herein mentioned, a
vacancy oceur In said ofhice otherwise than is mentioned in
the preceding section. or unless it be in the oftice of judge of
the hustings court, such vacancy may be filled by an appoint-
ment tor so much of said term as may be unexpired. Such
appointment shall be by the court of hustings held by the
mayor, recorder and aldermen, if 1t be in the office of attor-
ney for the commonwealth, clerk, sergeant, high constable,
recorder, senior alderman, or any other alderm: in; and. shall
in all other cases be by the people. The appointment, if the
vacancy be in the ofhve of recorder or senor alderman, shall
be from among the other members of the court; if in the
office of any other alderman, or of a member of the council,
trom amone the voters in the ward for which such alderman
or member of the council was elected; and if in any other
office, from among those who may be eligible thereto.”

“4 30. The council may appoint such oftticers as they may
deem proper, in addition to those hereinbetore provided for,
and define their powers, and preseribe their duties and com-
pensation; and may take from any of the officers so ap-
pointed, bonds with sureties, in such penalties as to the coun-
cil may seem fit, payable to the city. by its corporate name,
with condition for the faithful per/ormance of said duties.
All officers appointed by the council may be removed from
office at its pleasure.”

Ҥ 35. The council may erect or provide, in or near the
city, suitable workhouses, houses of correction, and houses
for the reception and maintenance of the poor and destitute.
They shall possess and exercise exclusive authority over all
persons, within the limits of the city, receiving or entitled to
the benefits of the poor laws; appoint officers and other per-

sons connected with the aforesaid institutions, and regulate

pauperism within the limits of the city; and the council,

through the agencies it shall appoint for the direction and

management of the poor of the city, shall exercise the powers

and perform the duties vested by law in overseers of the
oor.”

Ҥ51. The council may, on the petition of the owner or
owners of not less than one-fourth of the ground included in
any square of the city, prohibit the erection, in such square,
of any building, or addition to any building, unless the outer
walls thereof be made of brick and mortar, or stone and
mortar, and to provide for the removal of any such building
or addition, which shall be erected contrary to such pro-
hibition, at the expense of the builder or owner thereof; and
may provide for the regular and safe building of houses in
the city: and if any building shall have been commenced be-
fore said petition can be acted on by the council, or if a
building in progress appears clearly to be unsafe, the council
may have such buildings taken down.”

Ҥ54. The council may prevent hogs, dogs and other ani-
mals from running at large in the city, and may subject the
same to such confiscations, regulations and taxes as they may
deem proper; and the council may prohibit the raising or
keeping of hogs in the city.”

“$68. For the execution of its powers and duties, the
council may tax real estate in the city; all personal property
therein; all free persons over sixteen years of age; all cor-
porations located in the city, or having their principal office
therein, not exempt by law from taxation; all moneys owned
by, or credits due to any person living in the city; all capital
of persons having a place of business in the city, and doing
business therein, and employed in said business, though the
said business may extend beyond the city: provided, that so
much of said capital as is vested in real estate, or 1s: employed
in the manufacture of articles outside of the city limits, shall
not be taxed as capital; all stocks in incorporated joint stock
companies owned by persons living in the city, not exempt
by law from taxation; incomes, interest on money, dividends
of lands or other corporations owned by persons living in
the city: provided, that no capital, interest, income or divi-
dends shall be taxed when a license or other tax is imposed
upon the business in which the capital is employed, or upon
the principal money, credits or stock from which the interest,
income or dividend is derived; nor shall a tax be imposed at
the same time upon stock of a corporation, and upon the
dividends thereon.” :

Ҥ69. The council may tax the keepers of ordinaries,
houses of entertainment, boarding houses (public or private),

ublic eating houses, coffee houses, lager beer or other drink-
lng saloons, or cook shops; agents to rent out houses ; agents
to sell cattle, sheep or hogs; dealers in horses and mules;
keepers of livery stables; brokers, lawyers, physicians and
dentists: persons who keep a daguerrelan, photograph or am-
brotype gallery, and all who take pictures by light, or who
sell or barter any patent or specific or quack medicine; all
sellers of wine, or spirituous or fermented liquors; all manu-
facturers, merchants, traders and shopkeepers; and any other
person or employment upon whom or upon which the state
may at the time have imposed a license tax. And as to all
persons or employments embraced in this section, the council
may lay the tax directly; or may require them to take out a
license under such regulations as may be prescribed by ordt-
nance, and impose a tax thereon; but the taxes herein autho-
rized shall be subject to the provisos stated in the next pre-
ceding section.”

Ҥ 82. The said court, held by the judge, shall have original
jurisdiction of all felonies committed within the territorial
limits of its jurisdiction; and if a prisoner, put on his trial
for a felony, shall be found by the jury guilty of only a mis-
demeanor, the said court, held by the judve, shall have juris-
diction of the case; and it shall have appellate jurisdiction in
cases in which the constitutionality or validity of an ordi-
nance of the city is involved.”

Ҥ 90. The council may impose penalties for the violation
of this act or any of the ordinances of the city, not exceed-
ing five hundred dollars, and imprisonment, with or without
hard labor, not exceeding three months, for one offence. If
the penalty be above one hundred dollars, or imprisonment
for more than thirty days, it shall be prosecuted in the court
of hustings of the city, at the terms held by the mayor, re-
ccorder and aldermen; but any claim to a fine or penalty under
this act, or under any ordinance of the city, if it be limited
to an amount not exceeding one hundred dollars; and any
other claim against the city, or a person therein, if it does
not exceed one hundred dollars (exclusive of interest), shall
be cognizable in the mayor's court; and his judgement shall
be final in all civil cases where the matter in controversy, ex-
clusive of costs, is not more thah twenty dollars.

Ҥ 93. The mayor shall be the head of police of the city.
and shall have a general superintendence and control of said
police, pursuant to the ordinances of the city. When he is
absent from the city, or 18 so sick as to be unable to attend
to his duties, or the office is vacant, the recorder, or if he be
absent from the city, or is so sick as to be unable to attend
to his duties, or his office is vacant, the senior alderman shall
exercise all the powers of the mayor.”

2. The twenty-third and fifty-eighth sections of said act
are hereby repealed.

3. This act shall be submitted to the qualified voters of
said city, for adoption or rejection, on the first day of March,
eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and shall be in force and take
effect from the said election, if adopted by a majority of the
votes cast at such election. It shall be the duty of the coun-
cil of said city to make suitable provision and arrangement
for submitting this act to the qualified voters of the said city,
and to give public notice of the time and places when such
election will be held, and to ascertain and declare the result
thereof.