Chap. 590.—An ACT to incorporate the Roanoke Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals.

Approved April 2, 1902.

Whereas, on the twelfth day of February, eighteen hundred and ninety-
two, a charter of incorporation was granted by the corporation court of
the city of Raanoke to the Roanoke Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals, which charter was duly recorded in the office of the clerk of
the corporation court of the city of Roanoke and in the office of the secre-
tary of the Commonwealth; and,

Whereas, to better enable the said company to carry out the purposes
for which the charter was granted, it is necessary for the same to have
powers which cannot be conferred by the court aforesaid under the laws
of Virginia, and to that end it is desirable that the same should be
chartered by the legislature of Virginia: therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That J. Allen
Watts, T. T. Fishburne, W. R. Coulborne, H. N. Dyer, C. B. Moomaw,
W. C. Stephenson, Mistress W. K. Andrews, Mistress W. G. Macdowell,
Mistress John T. Trout, Roy B. Smith, and John Boehm, and such other
persons as may hereafter be associated with them, be, and they are hereby,
created and constituted a body politic and corporate under the name and
style of the Roanoke Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
and by this name shall have perpetual succession and a common seal.

2. The objects for which this corporation is to be formed are purely
benevolent in their character, and include the prevention of cruelty and
inhuman conduct towards animals of every description; the provision of
hospitals, infirmaries, ambulances, and all surgical, veterinary, and other
appliances for their treatment as may be deemed necessary by the said
company.

3. The capital stock of the said company shall be nominal or substan-
tial, according as the said company may, from time to time, determine.
If substantial, it shall be divided into shares of ten dollars per share.
But, whether nominal or substantial, whether the stock is to be divided into
shares or not, all the property held or acquired by the said company shall
be acquired and held for the purposes and objects of the said company,
and no other. And no stockholder shall be entitled to withdraw any
dividend, nor acquire any fund on account of having stock in the said
corporation.

4. The amount of real estate to be held by the said corporation shall
not exceed twenty-five acres, except that it may, from time to time, hold
a larger amount of any real estate (for a reasonable time, until it can
dispose of any thereof) which may be left or given to it, or which it may
find necessary to acquire in the accomplishment of its purposes.

5. Its principal office shall be in the city of Roanoke, Virginia, and for
the purposes of carrying out the objects of its existence and accomplish-
ing the benefits contemplated by the charter it shall have the same powers
in all of the other cities and counties of the State that it has in the city
of Roanoke.

6. The society shall have power, through its agents, to institute prose-
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cutions for all offenses against the laws of the Commonwealth, or of th
cities and towns thereof, prohibiting or having for their object the pro
hibition of cruelty to animals, and shall be entitled to be represented 1
such prosecutions by counsel, who may appear in the name of the sai
socicty, or for the assistance of the Commonwealth’s attorneys, or othe:
prosecuting officers of the State or cities. It shall have the right to cal.
upon any Commonwealth’s attorney of the Stale of Virginia, or upon ani
city attorney of any city therein, to conduct any prosecution for any of
the offenses enumerated in this section, and it shall be the duty of such
officer so called on to conduct the said prosecutien, unless he shall have
reason to believe that the same was instituted without reasonable cause,
and shall so state to the court or justice before whom such prosecution is
pending. Neither the said corporation, nor any agent, officer, or attorney
thereof, shall be lable, pecuniarily or otherwise, for the conduct of any
such prosecution, or for procuring the same, or aiding in the conduct
thereof, unless it shall be alleged and shown that the same was done
falsely and maliciously, and without probable cause.

?. The said corporation shall have the power to adopt such by-laws as
may be necessary to carry into effect its objects: provided, the same be not
in conflict with the laws of the State of Virginia. It shall have the power
to provide for and appoint such officers and agents as may be deemed by
it necessary or desirable for the purposes of carrying out more fully the
objects of its existence, and it shall have all power necessary to accom-
plish that end not in conflict with the general laws of the State of Vir-
ginia. All fines which may be collected for violation of any of the laws
of the State of Virginia, or any city thereof, enacted for the prevention
of cruclty to animals, in prosecutions in which the said corporation, its
agents, or officers appear as prosecutors, or which they may have in-
stituted, or in the conduct of which they have aided, shall he
paid to the treasurer of the said corporation, who shall make annually
a report thereof to the clerk of the county or corporation court of the
county or corporation in which said prosecution is instituted.

8. It shall be the duty of the corporation courts of this State, and of
the courts of the counties having jurisdiction for the trial of felony cases,
upon the application of the said corporation, to eppoint one or more police
officers in the city or cities or county or counties in which said applica-
tion is made, whose duty it shall be to sce to the enforcement of the laws
of the State of Virginia, and ordinances of the cities thereof, enacted
or ordained for the purpose of preventing cruelty to animals, which ap-
pointments shall be made from a list to be furnished by the said corpora-
{ion to the courts aforesaid, and the order shall state the term for which
the said appointment is made: provided, the eccurt or courts aforesaid
shall be satisfied that the person or persons so appointed are of good
character, demeanor, and suitable to discharge the duties of such office of
policeman, and that no city or county shall be responsible for the compen-
sation of the said policemen, unless so provided by ordinance of their
council or action of their board of supervisors. Neither the State, nor
any city nor county, shall he responsible, pecuniarily or otherwise, for
the acts of such officers. The police officers so appointed shall have all
of the powers of ordinary police officers, or constables, so far as the same
may be necessary for the enforcement of the laws enacted to prevent
cruelty to animals, and they shall be removed at the pleasure of the
court appointing them. There shall not be in office at any one time more
than ten police officers in any city or county «ppointed under the -pro-
visions of this act. .

9. Whenever, in the opinion of the said corporation, or its agents and
officers, the condition of any animal is such that the dictates of humanity
require it should be put to death, the said corporation, its agents, officers,
or attorneys may give notice to the owner or owners of such animals
that application will be made at some time designated in the said notice
before some justice of the city or county therein named for an order of
the court directing that the said animal shall be put to death. If, upon
hearing the said application, the justice before whom the same is made
shall be of the opinion that the dictates of humanity require that the said
animal shall be put to death, then he shall direct some police officer of
such city, or constable of such county, or some police officer appointed
under the provisions of this charter, to put to death the said animal in
such manner as to the justice shall seem most humane. Upon the trial
of the said complaint, the justice trying the same shall determine the
value of the animal or animals proposed to be destroyed, and whether or
not the owner shall be allowed any compensation therefor, and if so, the
amount thereof. Should the said justice determine that the owner is
entitled to compensation, then he shall further determine whether the
same shall be paid out of the funds of the treasury of the said corpora-
tion derived from fines imposed as hereinbefore provided or from other
funds in the treasury of said corporation, and the judgment shall so
show. He shall be entitled to a fee of fiftv cents for holding the said
trial, which shall be paid by the said corporation, or the owner of the
property aforesaid, according as to the justice shall seem most proper.

10. The council of any city, or the board of supervisors of any county
of the Commonwealth, shall have the power to make provision for com-
pensating the owner of the property which may be destroyed under the
provisions of this act, and in such event, the Justice, wherever, in his opin-
ion, the owner of the property shall not pay the cost of the proceedings,
or bear the loss of the destruction of the animal, shall require the same
to be paid out of the funds so provided by the said city or county.

11. This corporation shall not be required to pay any charter fees, or
other costs of incorporation, and all property which it shall hold to be
used solely for carrying out the purposes of its creation shall be exempt
from all taxes, whether city, county, or municipality. Wherever the word
“city” is used in this act it shall be construed to include any or all of the
incorporated towns in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

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