CHAP. 234.—An ACT providing the manner in which cities and towns of
this commonwealth may obtain leave to erect a dam in or across a
water course, and prescribing the procedure to be had in connection
therewith.

Approved March 13, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
any city or town of this commonwealth desiring, for the purpouse
of obtaining or enlarging a water supply, to erect a dam in or
across a non-navigable watercourse or a watercourse which is
navigable or declared by law to be a public highway, or the bed
of which is the property of the commonwealth, and on which
there is no community of a population of five hundred or more,
shall apply for such leave to the circuit court of the county
wherein such dam, or any portion thereof, is proposed to be
built; the application shall be in writing and shall set forth
distinctly the location of the. proposed dam, and it, together
With a plat showing the location and plan thereof, shall be
filed in the clerk’s office of said court at least thirty days’ prior
to the commencement of the term of court at which the applica-
tion is to be made. Notice of the time and place of making such
application shall be given “to whom it may concern” by pub-
lishing the notice once a week for four successive weeks in a
newspaper published in the county in the circuit court, of which
the proceedings are pending, and by posting the same at the
front door of the courthouse of said county on the first day of
the rules next preceding the application; or, if no newspaper be
published in said county, then such notice shall be posted as
hereinbefore prescribed, and shall be published in some other
convenient newspaper in this State, to be designated in term time
or in vacation by the judge of said court. And thereupon said
application shall be placed on the court docket.

2. Any person who may consider that he would be aggrieved
by the granting of such leave may appear and have himself
entered and made a party defendant to said application, and
may defend and contest the same.

3. Upon it appearing that the applicant has complied with
the provisions of section one of this act, and that a public neces-
sity or an essential public convenience will be served by the
erection of such dam, and that there is no community of a
population of five hundred or more on said water course, said
court shall, by an order, appoint five disinterested freeholders
of the county as commissioners (any three of whom may act)
who shall be directed to meet on a date specified in the order
at the site of the proposed dam, and ascertain (a) whether said
watercourse at that place is regularly used by the general pub-
lic for the purpose of navigation, and, if so, whether, and in
what degree, ordinary navigation will be obstructed by. the
erection of the proposed dam; (b) whether by any, and, if any,
by what means such obstruction may be prevented; (c) whether
the health of the neighbors will be annoyed thereby. Before
entering upon their duties said commissioners shall take an oath
faithfully to perform same, and after they have met they may
adjourn from day to day, until their business is completed.

4. When said commissioners shall have completed their in-
quiries, they shall set forth their findings in a report which they
shall make out, sign, and return to the said court. If they re-
port their disagreement or fail to report within a reasonable
time, not to exceed sixty days, the court may, in any such case,
or in any other case it may deem proper, and as often as seems
to it proper, appoint other commissioners and the matter be pro-
ceeded in as before prescribed.

5. When the report shall have been filed, the court shall set
a date for the hearing of the application, and shall proceed to
hear the same without a jury. Any party may introduce evi-
dence in support of, or in opposition to, the several findings con-
tained in the report of the commissioners; and if it appear to
the court, giving due consideration to both the report of the
commissioners and the evidence adduced in open court, that
the health of the neighbors will be annoyed by the erection of
the dam, the leave shall not be granted. But if it shall not so
appear, the court may grant the leave if of opinion that said
watercourse at that place is not regularly used by the general
public for the purposes of navigation, or that ordinary naviga-
tion will not be materially affected thereby. If it be granted,
the court may lay the applicant under such terms and. condi-
tions as shall seem to it right.

6. No applicant to whom such leave is granted shall, by
means of any such leave, draw or divert the water from any
mill-pond or dam of another existing at the time of such leave,
or do anything in conflict with any vested right in any water
works erected on such watercourse; nor shall the right of action
of any person to recover damages for injuries done to his prop-
erty by reason of the erection of such dam be in any way affected
thereby.

7. Any party who may think himself aggrieved by the order
of the court granting or refusing leave to erect such a dam, may
apply to the supreme court of appeals of this State for a writ of
error or supersedeas to said order, and thereupon the same pro-
ceedings may be had as are now provided for by law in cases in
which writs of error may be granted.

8. All acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby
repealed.