Chap. 391.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 417 of the Code of
Virginia. [H B 207]
Approved March 24, 1922.

1.’ Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
{ion four hundred and seventeen of the Code of Virginia be amended
and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 417. Copies of unsigned grants, when admissible in evi-
dence ; Commonwealth’s right relinquished when certain taxes paid;
correction on record of grants signed but signature not recorded.—
Where the records in the land office disclose the fact that the land
warrant used as the foundation for a grant of any of the public
lands of this Commonwealth, subject to grant, was fully paid for and
that the right of such grant was finally and fully completed in the
manner prescribed by law and a grant therefor made out and spread
upon the proper record book in said office, in due form of law and
regular in every respect except only that the name of the then gov-
ernor of Virginia was not recorded at the foot thereof on said record
book, it shall be the duty of the register of the land office, upon the
request of any person interested, to furnish a copy of such grant as
it appears of record in said office, together with a certificate to the
effect that the land warrant upon which said grant was founded was
fully paid for; that the right to such grant had been finally and fully
completed in the manner prescribed by law, and that said grant was
regular in every respect except only that the signature of the gov-
ernor did not appear at the foot thereof on the record. Such copy
and certificate shall be received in evidence in any legal proceeding
in which the title to the land described in said grant, or any part
thereof, is brought in controversy and shall be prima facie evidence
of title to such land; and when the land embraced in such grant, or
any part thereof, shall have been regularly on the proper land books
and the taxes and levies regularly assessed thereon and paid by the
claimants thereof, claiming under such grant, for a continuous period
of twenty years, any title which may rest in the Commonwealth, to
so much of such land as has been so on the land books and upon
which the taxes and levies shall have been so paid, shall be relin-
quished to the person so claiming the same and no location of any
land office warrant thereon shall be valid; and any such claimant of
such land, on which the taxes and levies shall have been so paid,
may file a petition in the circuit court of the county in which such
land lies, after ten days’ notice in writing to the attorney for the
Commonwealth for said county, who shall appear and defend the
same on behalf of the Commonwealth and the county, and upon sat-
isfactory proof of the fact that such land had so been on the land
books of said county and all the taxes and levies regularly paid there-
on for the period of time hereinabove specified, and the production
before said court of the copy of such grant and the certificate of the
register of the land office, hereinbefore provided for, the court shall
make an order which shall recite and set forth all of such facts so
proved and shown, which order, when so made and entered of record
on the proper order book of said court, shall operate to effectually
relinquish to the person so claiming such land through and under
such grant, whatever right and title may rest in the Commonwealth
thereto; and a copy of such order shall be conclusive evidence of
the better right of the claimant under such grant, in any caveat pro-
ceeding or any other controversy between such claimant and any
other person claiming under a location of such land or any part
thereof, made after the date of such order.

But nothing contained in this section shall in any manner affect
any fight adverse to any person claiming under such grant, which
vested prior to the passage of this act, nor divest the right or title,
if any, of any junior grantee of any part of the land embraced with-
in the exterior bounds of such grant, claiming under a junior grant
660 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. [vA

which was regularly issued prior to the passage of this act, or any
one holding or claiming through or under such junior grantee, or any
one claiming by adverse possession of himself or his predecessors
in title, but in any controversy between such adverse claimants of
junior grantees, or persons claiming or holding through or under
them, and any person holding or claiming through or under such
grant as is first herein mentioned, the contesting parties shall be left
to the strength of their respective rights and titles according to the
nature of the case, independent of this section and just as if it had
not been enacted.

If it shall appear from the original of any such grant as is first
hereinabove referred to, that such original was actually signed by
the governor, the register of the land office shall, upon the presenta-
tion to him in his office, of such original grant so signed, correct
the record thereof so as to conform to such original grant and afhx
thereto the date of such correction and a certificate of the fact that
such original, duly signed by the governor, had been so presented
to him.