Chap. 50.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 437a of an act approved
December 10, 1903, amending and re-enacting chapter 23 of the Code of
Virginia, in relation to the assessment of lands and lots, so that sald sec-
tion shall apply to and provide for the assessment of standing timber trees,
and to make the same retrospective as to certain assessments.

Approved February 21, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section four
hundred and thirty-seven a of chapter twenty-three of the Code of Vir-
ginia in relation to the assessment of lands and lots, as the same was
amended and re-enacted by an act approved December ten, nineteen
hundred and three, be, and the same is hereby, amended and re-enacted so
as to read as follows:

§437 a. The several commissioners of the revenue of this State shall,
on or before the first day of August, nincteen hundred and three, and
every second year thereafter on or before the fifteenth day of May, spe-
cially and separately assess at the fair market value all mineral lands, and
the improvements, fixtures, and machinery thereon, and all standing mer-
chantable timber trees heretofore or hereafter sold and conveyed to par-
ties not owning the surface within their respective districts, and shall
enter the same on the land books of their respective districts separately
from other lands charged thereon, and shall extend the taxes upon said
lands, improvements, fixtures, and machinery, and said standing mer-
chantable timber trees, assessed as aforesaid at the rate fixed by law upon
tangible property.

The commissioner, in assessing mineral lands, shall set forth upon the
land book the area and the fair market value thereof, first, of such portion
of each tract as is improved and under development; second, the fair
market value of the improvements, fixtures, and machinery upon each
tract; and third, the area and the fair market value of such portion of
each tract as shall not be under development; and in assessing standing
merchantable trees he shall set forth the number, description or kind of
timber and the fair market value thereof. If the®surface of the land is
held by one person, and the standing merchantable timber trees, or the
coal, iron, and other minerals, mineral waters, gas or oil under the sur-
face be held by another person, the estate therein of each, and the rela-
tive fair market value of their respective interest, shall be ascertained by
the commissioner. If the surface of the land and the coal, iron, and
other minerals, mineral water, gas or oil under the surface be owned by
the same person, the commissioner shall acertain the fair market value
of the land, exclusive of said coal, iron, other minerals, mineral waters,
gas or oils; and also ascertain in addition the fair market value of the
said coal, iron, other minerals, mineral waters, gas, and oils, and shall
assess each at such ascertained values, stating separately, however, in every
case the value of the surface of the land and the value of the said coal,
iron, other minerals, mineral waters, gas, and oils under the surface.

And every such assessment as is herein provided for, heretofore made by
any commissioner in this State, shall nevertheless be valid and binding in
so far as it would be valid and binding, had it been made after this act
goes into effect.

The several commissioners shall, on or before the first day of August,
nineteen hundred and three, and on or before the fifteenth day of May in
every second year thereafter, certify a copy of such assessments made in
their respective districts of mineral lands and mineral rights as afore-
said to the State corporation commission, with the name and _postoffice
address of each person, firm or corporation in whose name any such lands
or interest therein shall have been assessed upon the land book of his dis-
trict with the amount of tax extended thereon. Upon receiving the copy
aforesaid the corporation commission shall examine into the justice of any
such assessments, and if it shall appear to the commission that any tract
of land, or any part thereof, or the improvements, fixtures, or machinery
thereon, or any right or interest in the same, or any part thereof, has not
heen assessed at its fair market value, the said commission shall direct the
attorney for the Commonwealth for the county or corporation wherein
such land or interest therein so assessed is situated, or any other special
attorney it may designate, to apply in the name of the Commonwealth to
the circuit court of the county or corporation court of said city to have
said assessment corrected, which court shal: have jurisdiction for the
purpose.

Any person feeling himself aggrieved by the essessment of his lands or
interest therein hereunder may, at any time prior to the first day of Feb-
ruary next succeeding, apply to the circuit court of the county or corpo-
ration court of the city in which the land lies to have said assessment. cor-
rected. Said application may be made either by motion in open court or
by filing a petition in the clerk’s office of said court, setting forth the
lands or mineral rights on which the assessment complained of is made,
praying that said assessment may be corrected; and the said court, at its
next term after the filing of said petition, shall hear the said cause and
enter such judgment as to it shall seem proper. The Commonwealth’s
attorney and the commissioner of the revenue who made the assessment
shall be made defendaftts to such petition or motion, and written notice
shall be served upon them at least five days prior to the day fixed for the
hearing of such motion or petition. Continuances of the hearing of said
motions or petitions may be granted for good cause. The proceedings
upon any such application shall conform to section four hundred and
forty-four of the Code of Virginia, and all amendments thereof, except
so far as in conflict herewith: provided, that the Commonwealth and the
person whose property is assessed shall have the right of appeal from the
decision of said circuit or corporation court to the supreme court of ap-
peals. The said State corporation commission, for the purpose of this
act, may make, or cause to be made, such examination of the said lands or
improvements, fixtures, and machinery thereon as it may deem neces-
sary, and may summon and compel the attendance of witnesses, and call
for such information, and require the production of such books and papers
as it may deem necessary in the premises.

2. In view of the fact that there are now pending in some of the courts
of the Commonwealth proceedings for the purpose of invalidating certain
assessments of standing timber trees heretofore made, an emergency is
hereby declared to exist for making this act immediately operative, and
it shall therefore be in force from the date of its passage.