Chap. 49.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5189 of the Code of Vir-
ginia as amended by an act approved September 5, 1919, and as further
amended by an act approved March 19, 1920. [H B 48]

Approved February 18, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
fifty-one hundred and eighty-nine of the Code of Virginia as amended
by an act approved September fifth, nineteen hundred and nineteen,
and as further amended by an act approved March nineteenth, nineteen
hundred and twenty, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:

Sec. 5189. Reservation of title to, and liens on, eocds and chattels
sold, to be void as to creditors, and purchasers for value, unless in
writing and docketed.—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, where possession is delivered
to the vendee, shall, in respect to such reservation and condition be
void as to creditors of the vendee who acquire a lien upon the goods
and as to purchasers from the vendee, for value, without notice,
{rom such vendee unless such sale or contract be evidenced by writing.
signed by the vendor and the vendee, setting forth the date thereof,
the amount due, when and how payable, a brief description of the
goods and chattels, and the terms of the reservation or condition;
and unless a memorandum of said writing, setting forth the name
of the vendor and vendee, the date thereof, the amount due theron
when and how payable, and a brief description of said goods and
chattels 1s filed for docketing with the clerk of the county or cor-
poration, where deeds are admitted to record, as provided by law,
in which said goods and chattels may be; provided, that if such
filing for docketing be done within five days from the delivery of the
goods and chattels to the vendee, it shall be as valid as to creditors
and purchasers as if such filing for docketing had been done on the
day of such delivery of the goods and chattels; and it shall be the
duty of such clerk to endorse on such contract the words “memo-
randum filed and docketed” together with the day and hour of such
filing with the signature of the clerk affixed thereto; or, if such
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, operating as a public service
corporation, until and except from the time the said writing 1s duly
docketed in the clerk’s office of the county or the corporation, where
deeds are admitted to record, as provided by law, wherein the prin-
cipal office, in this State, of the company operating such railroad is
located, and a copy of said writing be filed in the office of the State
corporation commission, and each locomotive, 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.”

It shall be the duty of the clerk to docket the writings mentioned
herein, in a well bound book, to be called the ‘conditional sales book,”
and to index the same, thereon, alphabetically, in the name of both
the vendor and vendee, for which service he may charge a fee of
twenty-five cents; except in case of public service corporations, he
may charge a fee not exceeding fifty cents ; but no tax shall be charged
thereon.

All recordations and docketings made, as required ‘by law as it
existed before the Code of Virginia of nineteen hundred and nineteen
became effective, between the thirteenth day of January, nineteen
hundred and twenty and the nineteenth day of March, nineteen hun-
dred and twenty, both inclusive, are hereby validated, except where the
validity of such reeording or docketing has been or could be attacked
or questioned in litigation now pending; and provided, further, that
all recordations and docketings made in accordance with an act ap-
proved March nineteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty, entitled an
act to amend and re-enact section fifty-one hundred and eighty-nine
of the Codd of Virginia, as amended by an act approved September
fifth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, are hereby validated; but noth-
ing in this provision shall be construed as intended to affect vested
rights.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.