Chap. 7.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 59 of the Code of Virginia,
and to repeal an act entitled an act to amend and re-enact an act approved
February 10, 1904, entitled an act to make valid any disposition of prop-
erty in perpetuity for the maintenance or care of cemeteries, cemetery
lots, monuments and other erections and authorizing. cemetery companies
and trutsees holding title to cemeteries or burial grounds to take and hold
any property according to the terms of the grant, bequest, devise or gift.
as amended and re-enacted by an act approved February 20, 1906, approved
February 16, 1918. (H B 4]

Approved February 4, 1920.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion fifty-nine of the Code of Virginia be amended and re-enacted so
as to read as follows:
Sec. 59. What disposition of property for maintenance or care of
cemeteries, etc., valid; who may hold title-—No disposition of property
heretofore or hereafter made for the maintenance or care of any
cemetery, burial ground, burial lot in a cemetery, or monument, or
other erections about such cemetery or burial lot, shall fail by reason
of such disposition having been made in perpetuity, but shall be valid.
Any cemetery company chartered under the laws of this State, or the
trustees of a church, or any trustees holding title to a cemtery, or
burial ground, may take and hold any property granted, bequeathed,
devised, or given upon trust to apply its income to the improvement,
repair, or embellishment of the cemetery, or any burial lot or monu-
ment or tomb or vault or other erections in such cemetery, according
to the terms of such grant, bequest, devise, or gift. No gift, grant,
devise or bequest from any one person for any-and all of the purposes
named in this section shall exceed ten thousand dollars in value or
amount (and any such gift, grant, devise or bequest heretofore made
not in excess of ten thousand dollars shall be valid); nor shall the
aggregate amount and value of all gifts, grants, devises and bequests
which may be held for the improvement, repair or embellishment of
any single lot in any cemetery or burial ground, including the monu-
ments, tombs and vaults therein, exceed ten thousand dollars at any
one time. All gifts, grants, devises and bequests for such purposes in
excess of the amount herein named shall be void. The board of direc-
tors of any incorporated cemetery company may by by-law establish
a trusteeship for holding and administering all funds paid to said
cemetery company for the perpetual care of. any lot or lots in the
cemetery conducted by said company, and said trusteeship, once estab-
lished, shall only be revoked, annulled or modified by and with the
consent of the circuit court of the county or corporation court of the
city within whose jurisdiction the said cemetery is situated. Nothing
herein contained shall be construed as limiting the amount which may
be given, bequeathed or devised to defray the original cost of the
cemetery, burial lot, monument, vault or other like erection or struc-
ture, nor shall this section be construed as affecting any estate that
has been distributed or settled on the basis of the law then existing.

2. That an act entitled an act to amend and re;enact an act, ap-
proved February tenth, nineteen hundred and four, entitled an act to
make valid any disposition of property in perpetuity for the mainten-
ance or care of cemeteries, cemetery lots, monuments and other erec-
tions and authorizing cemetery companies and trustees holding title
to cemeteries or burial grounds to take and hold any property accord-
ing to the terms of the grant, bequest, devise or gift, as amended
and re-enacted by an act approved February twentieth, nineteen hun-
dred and six, approved February sixteenth, nineteen hundred and
eighteen, be, and the same is, hereby repealed.

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