CHAP. 645.—An ACT to authorize the United States Government to acquire
title to and jurisdiction over certain lands at Cape Henry and Cape Charles,
Virginia, for the purpose of fortifications and coast defence.

Approved March 8, 1896.

Whereas it has been represented to the general assembly of Vir-
yinia that there is now pending before the congress of the United
States a bill the title and purpose whereof is to provide for perma-
nent fortifications and a system of torpedo defence at Cape Henry,
Virginia, and Cape Charles, Virginia, and wherein it is recited that
it is manifest that the seacoast defence of the United States are
totally inadequate to the safety of the country, and that the gateway
to Chesapeake hay and its tributaries between Cape Henry and Cape
Charles, Virginia, is entirely unprotected against the entrance of a
hostile fleet which once entering said bay would have at its mercy the
cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, Baltimore, and the national
capital; and

Whereas the said bill, among other things, provides that no part
of the money to be appropriated thereby shall be expended for the
purchase of sites for the said fortifications until a valid title to the
same shall be vested in the United States and the state of Virginia
shall have released and relinquished jurisdiction over the same and
exempted from taxation the said sites and such buildings as may be
hereafter erected thereon so long as the same are the property of the
United States; and

Whereas in case of the passage by congress of the said bill or some
other bill having the same objects and purposes in view, the United
States government may desire to acquire by purchase or condemna-
tion the land at Cape Henry and Cape Charles, Virginia, necessary
for the erection and establishment of the said fortifications and de-
fences, and it appears to the general assembly of Virginia that such
fortifications and defences are necessary and should be erected and
established for the protection of the Chesapeake bay and its tribu-
taries and the cities hereinbefore named; now, therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the con-
sent of this commonwealth be, and is hereby, given to the United
States government to acquire title to the land at Cape Henry and
Cape Charles, Virginia, necessary for the fortifications and defences
so that the congress of the United States may exercise such authority
and jurisdiction over the same as is within the contemplation of the
seventeenth clause of the eighth section of the first article of the con-
stitution of the United States; provided, however, that the said land
so acquired shall not exceed at either Cape Henry or Cape Charles
six hundred and forty acres in area.

2. That this commonwealth retains concurrent jurisdiction with
the United States over the said land, or so much thereof as may be
acquired under this act, at either Cape Henry or Cape Charles, Vir-
ginia, so far as it lawfully can consistently with this act, and its
courts, magistrates, and officers may take such cognizance, execute
such process, and discharge such other legal functions within the
same as may not be incompatible with the true intent and meaning
of this act.

3. That the land which may be acquired under this act, and the
buildings, improvements, and fortifications which may be erected
thereon for the purposes aforesaid, are hereby exempted from all
taxes imposed by this commonwealth or by either of the coun-
ties of Princess Anne or Northampton so long as the same shall
be held and used by the United States or under its authority for the
uses and purposes hereinbefore mentioned, and no longer.

4. That should the land acquired under this act, or any part
thereof, be used for any other purpose or purposes than those specified
herein by the United States government or under its authority, the
same, or such part or parts thereof as may be used for any other pur-
poge or purposes, shall be subject to taxation as other property in
this commonwealth.

5. That if the goverment of the United States shall fail to acquire
the land authorized to be acquired under this act for the space of five
years, or having acquired the said land shall fail for the space of
five consecutive years to use and occupy the same for the purposes
herein designated, then the jurisdiction herein granted shall cease
and determine.

6. This act shall be in force from its passage.