Chap. 741.—An ACT to regulate and license pawnbrokers, and to,regulate
junkdealers and dealers in second-hand personal property in the cities o!
Virginia and county of Henrico.

Approved March 4, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
judge of the hustings or corporation court of any city, and the judge
of the county court of Henrico county may from time to time grant
licenses under their hands and seals to such persons, citizens of the
United States, as shall produce to them satisfactory evidence of their
good character to exercise or carry on the business of a pawnbroker in
their respective cities and county, which license shall designate the
building in which said person shall carry on said business; and no
person shall exercise or carry on the business of a pawnbroker with-
out being duly ] censed by the judge of the hustings or corporation
court of the city in which he may desire to carry on said business,
or of the county court of Henrico county, nor in any other building
than the one designated in said license, except by the consent, in
writing, of such judge, under the penalty of fifty dollars for each
day he or she shall exercise or carry on said business without such
license, or in any other building than the one so designated, except
by the consent of the such judge as aforesaid. Any person, corpora-
tion, member, or members of a corporation or firm who loans money
on deposits or pledge on personal property or other valuable thing
other than securities or printed evidences of indebtedness, or who
deals in the purchasing of personal property or other valuable thing,
on condition of selling the same back again at a stipulated price, is
hereby declared and defined to be a pawnbroker.

2. That every person so licensed shall, at the time of receiving
such license and before the same shall be operative, enter, with two
sufficient sureties, into a joint and several recognizance to the com-
monwealth of Virginia in the penal sum of twenty-five hundred dol-
lars, conditioned for the due observance of all such acts of the
general assembly of Virginia as may be passed or in force respect-
ing pawnbrokers at any time during the continuance of such
license. If any person shall be aggrieved by the misconduct of any
such licensed pawnbroker and shall recover judgment against him
therefor, such person may, after the return unsatisfied either in
whole or part of any execution issued upon said judgment, maintain
an action in his own name upon the bond of said pawnbroker in
Lny court having jurisdiction of the amount claimed; provided such
-ourt shall, upon application made for the purpose, grant such léave
Oo prosecute. ;

3. That every pawnbroker shall keep a book, in which shall be
airly written at the time of each loan an accurate account and
lescription of the goods, article or thing pawned or pledged, the
-mount of money loaned thereon at the time of pledging the same,
he rate of interest to be paid on such loan, and the name and resi-
lence of the person pawning or pledging the said goods, article, or
-hing, together with a particular description of such person, includ-
.ng complexion, color of eyes and hair, and his or her height and
zeneral appearance.

4. That every pawnbroker shall at the time of each loan deliver to
bhe person pawning or pledging any goods, article, or thing a memo-
randum or note, signed by him or her, containing the substance of
phe entry required to be made in his or her book by the last preced-
ing section, except as to the description of the person, and no charge
shall be made or received by any pawnbroker for any such entry,
memorandum, or note.

5. That said books shall at all reasonable times be open to the
inspection of the judges of the criminal courts, the chief of police,
and captains and sergeants of the police of the city or county wherein
said business is being conducted, or any or either of them, sergeant
and sheriff of such city or county or other officer with police juris-
diction.

6. That no pawnbroker shall sell any pawn or pledge until the
same shall have remained four months in his or her possession,
unless by consent in writing of the pawner, and all such sales shall
be made at public auction and not otherwise, and shall be made or
conducted by such auctioneers as shall be designated and approved
of for that purpose by the said judge above mentioned.

7. That notice of every such sale shall be published for at least
five days previous thereto in one or more of the daily newspapers of
general circulation printed in such city. Those doing business in
Henrico county shall advertise as above in some newspaper pub-
lished in the city of Richmond, and such notice shall specify the
time and place at which such sale is to take place, the name of the
auctioneer by whom the same is to be conducted, and a description
of the articles to be sold.

8. That the surplus money, if any, arising from any such sale,
after deducting the amount of the loan, the interest then due on the
same, and the expenses of the advertisement and sale, shall be paid
over by the pawnbroker to the person who would be entitled to
redeem the pledge in case no such sale had taken place.

9. That any pawobroker who shall violate or neglect or refuse to
comply with any or either of the provisions of this act, except those
contained in section one, shall, for every such offence, upon convic-
tion before a court of competent jurisdiction, pay a fine of not more
than one hundred dollars, for the use of the city or county wherein
his said business is being conducted.

10. That no pawnbroker shall ask, demand or receive a greater
399 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

rate of interest than ten per centum per month on amounts of twen-
ty-five dollars or less, five per centum per month on amounts over
twenty-five dollars and less than one hundred dollars, and three per
centum per month on amounts of one hundred dollars or more on
any loan secured by pledge of personal property, under penalty of
one hundred dollars for every such offence, to be recovered for the
use of the city or county wherein such business is being conducted :
provided, however, that where the loan is secured by the pledge of
personal property requiring extra care to prevent injury during dis-
use, 8 pawnbroker may charge such reasonable sum for storing or
taking care of the same as the judge of said court may from time to
time prescribe.

11. That all prosecutions under this act shall be upon the infor-
mation of the attorney for the commonwealth, and in the name of
the city or county wherein such business is being conducted: pro-
vided, however, that the provisions of this act shall not apply to
dealers in second-hand books or to the business of dealing in second-
hand books.

12. Police regulations.—Every pawnbroker, junk dealer, or person
engaged in the second-hand clothing business in any city in this
commonwealth or the county of Henrico, shall keep at his place of
business a book or books in which shall be fairly written in English,
at the time of each loan or transaction in the course of his business, an
accurate account of such loan or transaction (except in the case of
junk dealers as to the purchase of rags, bones, old iron and paper),
setting forth the description of the goods, article, or thing pawned,
purchased, or received on account of money loaned thereon or paid
therefor; the time of receiving the same; the name and residence of
the person pawning, selling, or delivering the same; the terms and
conditions of loan, purchase, or receipt thereof, including the period
for which any such loan may be made, and all other facts and cir-
cumstances respecting such loan, purchase, or receipt, which said
book or books shall at all times be subject to the inspection of the
officers mentioned in section five of this act; provided, however, that
this act shall not apply to articles bought without the state of
Virginia.

13. That no property of any kind received on deposit, purchased,
or pledged by any pawnbroker shall be disfigured or its identity de-
stroyed or effected in any manner whatsoever, so long as it continues
in pawn or in the possession of such pawnbroker, nor shall such prop-
erty be in any manner concealed for the space of forty-eight hours
after the same shall have been received by such pawnbroker.

14, It shall be the duty of every pawnbroker, junk dealer or person
engaged in the second-hand clothing business, and of every person
in the employ of such, to admit to his premises at any time any offi-
cer mentioned in section five of this act to examine any pledge or
pawn-book or other record on the premises, as well as the articles
pledged, purchased or received, and to search for and take into pos-
session any article known by him to be missing, or known or believed
by him to have been stolen, without the formality of the writ of

search warrant or any other process, which search or seizure is hereby
authorized.
15. The following regulation is hereby made for storing or taking
care to prevent injury during disuse on blankets, clothing, carpets,
furs, rugs, dress goods, cloths, mirrors, oil paintings, glass and china
ware, pianos, organs, curtains, bedding and upholstered furniture:
Pawnbrokers shall be allowed to charge two per centum per month
in addition to the regular charges for the first three months, or part
thereof, such goods shall remain as pledge for money advanced.

16. That every pawnbroker, junk dealer or person engaged in the
second-hand clothing business shall be liable to all the penalties
hereinafter provided for violation of any of the provisions of this
article, whether such violations be committed by himself or by any
one, his agent, clerk or employee.

17. Every person, as hereinbefore provided, who shall be convicted
of violating any of the provisions of this article shall, for the first
offence, forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding twenty-five dollars,
and for a second or other subsequent offence pay such penalty, and
in addition forfeit his license, in the discretion of the judge of the
hustings or corporation: court of such city or county court of Hen-
rico.

18. Every person liable to a license tax as junk dealer or dealer in
second-hand personal property of any kind whatsoever in any said
city or said county who shall fail to pay the said license tax before
engaging in the business for which the license tax may be required,
shall, in addition to the license tax imposed, pay a fine or penalty of
not less than five nor more than fifty dollars for each offence, to be
imposed and collected as other license taxes due such city or county
are imposed and collected.

19. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith be, and
the same are hereby, repealed.

20. This act shall be in force on and after May first, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-six.