Chap. 71.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 2546 of the Code of
Virginia, as amended by an act approved March 27, 1922, in relation to
official receipts for fines. [H B 19]

Approved March 23, 1923.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section twenty-five hundred and forty-six of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended by an act approved March twenty-seventh,
nineteen hundred and twenty-two, be amended and re-enacted
so as to read as follows: |

Section 2546. Official receipts for fines.—(a) Every officer
collecting a fine, fine and costs, or costs where no fine is imposed,
shall give an official receipt therefor to the person making the
payment, and the clerk of the court shall use the official receipt
in receipting to a justice for payments made to the clerk; and
when the fine, fine and costs, or costs are collected by execution,
the clerk shall receipt to the officer making payment to him upon
the official receipt.

(b) The auditor of public accounts shall prepare forms of
official receipts for fines and distribute them to the clerks of the
circuit courts of the counties and cities having no corporation or
hustings court, also to the clerks of corporation or hustings
courts of the cities, for their use and for distribution to the
justices of their respective counties and cities.

The forms shall be in books of such size as may be con-
venient and each book and form shall be numbered and properly
authenticated by the auditor of public accounts. Each receipt
form shall bear the date of issue, name of person to whom re-
ceipt is given, name of person making payment, and amount
paid, to be written by the officer to whom the payment is made,
and each receipt form shall have a stub bearing the same number
as receipt, on which shall be entered, by the officer issuing the
receipt, the date the detached receipt is given, the name of the
person to whom the detached receipt is given, the name of the
person making payment, and amount for which given; delivery
of receipt is to be attested on the stub by signature of person to
whom the receipt is given, and signature of any such person who
is unable to write shall be witnessed by some person not an
officer. |

The receipt forms shall be accompanied by instructions from
the auditor of public accounts for their use, and be so prepared
that they may be detached from the book so as to indicate exact
amount represented by the receipt, and receipt in any other form
shall not be valid against the Commonwealth.

(c) It shall be the duty of the clerk on the fifteenth of
March and on the fifteenth of September, but if either of those
dates fall upon Sunday or a legal holiday, then on the date im-
mediately following, to make up a statement which will show
each person reported to him by each justice during the preceding
six months, ending respectively, February twenty-eighth and
August thirty-first, which report shall also show amount of fine,
fine and costs, or costs where no fine is imposed, imposed against
each person, date imposed, amount collected and date of col-
lection, also offense; also the clerk shall include in that state-
ment statement showing each person making payment of a fine,
fine and costs, or costs where no fine is imposed, to him amount
paid and date of payment during same period, the correctness of
which statement shall be examined into by the attorney for the
Commonwealth, who shall certify to the correctness thereof, if
the same be found to be correct, and if not found to be correct it
shall be the duty of the attorney for the Commonwealth to cause
the clerk to correct it wherein it is incorrect, and it shall then
be the duty of the attorney for the Commonwealth to certify to
the correctness of the statement, and it shall further be the duty
of the attorney for the Commonwealth at the term of court next
ensuing to present the statement to the court and the court shall
order the same filed and a copy thereof certified to the auditor
of public accounts.

Any clerk or justice failing, without good cause to
comply with the provisions of this section, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty
dollars, one-half of which shall go to the informer, if there be
an informer, recoverable by motion of the Commonwealth’s at-
torney before the circuit court of a county, or circuit court of a
city having no corporation or hustings court, or before the
corporation or hustings court of a city, wherein such failure
occurred, or wherein such delinquent officer resides. If any
officer misuse or misappropriate a fine collected by him, he shall
be deemed guilty of embezzlement, and shall be punished as for
the embezzlement of public funds, and the failure to produce or
account for any receipt form received by him shall be prima
facie evidence of his embezzlement of the amount represented
thereby.

Under section fifty-three of the Constitution an emergency is
hereby declared to exist, and this act shall be in force from its
passage. :