Chap. 54.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 2462 of the Code of Virginia,
as amended by an act approved February 23, 1894, relating to the sale of goods
and chattels in certain cases.

Approved March 8, 1904.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
twenty-four hundred and sixty-two of the Code of Virginia, as amended
by an act approved February twenty-third, eighteen hundred and ninety-
four, be, and it is, amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 2462. Reservation of title to and liens on goods and chattels sold to
be void as to creditors and purchasers unless in writing and recorded ;
how enforced.—Subdivision 1. Every sale or contract for the sale of
goods and chattels wherein the title thereto or a lien thereon is reserved
until the same be paid for in whole or in part, or the transfer of title is
made to depend on any condition, and possession be delivered to the
vendee, shall, in respect to such reservation and condition, be void as to
creditors of and purchasers for value without notice from such vendee
until such sale or contract be in writing, signed by both the vendor and
vendee, in which the said reservation or condition is expressed, and until
and except from the time that a memorandum of said writing, setting
forth the date thereof, the amount due thereon, when and how payable,
and a brief description of said goods or chattels, be docketed in the
clerk’s office of the circuit or corporation court of the county or corpora-
tion in which said goods or chattels may be, or in the clerk’s office of the
chancery court of the city of Richmond, if said goods or chattels be
within the corporate limits of said city; and it shall be the duty of such
clerk to docket and to index the same from the original contract in the
name of the vendor and vendee, together with the date of such docket-
ing, in a book to be kept by him ‘for that purpose, and to endorse on such
contract the words, “Memorandum docketed,” with his signature as clerk
affixed thereto, for which service the clerk may charge a fee not exceed-
ing twenty-five cents; but no tax shall be charged thereon, and the dock-
eting and indexing of such memorandum of said contract as is herein
provided for shall have the same effect as to creditors of and purchasers
for value without. notice from the vendce as if said contract were recorded
according to the provisions of chapter one hundred and nine of the Code
of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, or if said goods or
chattels consist of locomotives, cars, or other rolling stock, equipments or
personal property of any description to be used in or about the operation
of any railroad, until and except from the time’ the said writing is duly
admitted to record in the clerk’s office of the circuit or corporation court
of the county or corporation wherein the principal office in this State of
the company operating the railroad is located, or in the clerk’s office of
the chancery court of the city of Richmond, if said principal office is
within the corporate limits of the said city, and a copy of said writing be
filed in the office of the State corporation commission, and each locomo-
tive, car, or other piece of rolling stock be plainly and permanently
marked with the name of the vendor on both sides thereof, followed by
‘the word “owner.”

Except where said goods and chattels consist of locomotives, cars, or
other rolling stock, equipments or personal property of any description
to be used in or about the operation of any railroad, no acknowledgment
or other form of proof shall be requisite to authorize the clerk to docket
said sale, or contract, and all sales or contracts for the sale of goods or
chattels other than locomotives, cars, and railroad equipment aforesaid,
heretofore docketed without acknowledgment or other proof, shall have
the same force and effect as if the same had been duly acknowledged or
proved.

Subdivision 2. All reservations, liens, conditions, and the collection. of
all money mentioned in any such written contract, whether recorded or
not, may be enforced on a petition to a justice of the peace when the
amount or value involved is within his jurisdiction, and to a circuit court
or @ corporation court when the amount or value involved is within its
jurisdiction. Such petition shall be filed by the person entitled to re-
cover, and shall state the contract and the plaintiff’s claim, describe the
property with reasonable centainty, and name the time when judgment
will be asked for.

A copy thereof shall be served on each person whose rights will be
affected by the proceedings, which may be had thereon at least ten days
before the date named therein for asking for judgment, and the original
shall be filed with the justice or clerk of court at least five days before
such date.

A defendant shall, when the case is in a circuit or corporation court,
state the grounds of his defence or his counter claim or offset in an an-
swer to the petition, to which the plaintiff may reply, and no further
pleading shall be required. But any such pleading may be demurred to
as pleading in other cases. The court or the justice may permit all pro-
per amendments to the petition or other pleadings. The court or justiec
shall hear and determine all questions arising out of or under the con-
tract which are properly raised by the pleadings (no pleadings other
than the petition being necessary before a justice), and shall render such
judgment thereon as may be required by the rules of law or equity appli-
cable to such questions.

The property may be sold or possession delivered or such other dispo-
sition made of it as the court or justice may direct. When the judgment
is for money or costs or for the specific property, execution therefor may
issue as in other cases. Where property is to be sold or other disposition
made of it, the judgment or order of the court or justice shall be executed
by the sheriff or other officer of the court authorized to execute process
or by a constable.