Chap. 394.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 6020 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, so as to provide that proceedings before justices, including civil justices,
civil and police justices, trial justices and judges of mayoralty courts, in
civil cases, may also be by notice and motion. {(H B 162]

Approved March 23, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
six thousand and twenty of the Code of Virginia, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 6020. A justice, when applied to by any person, shall issue
a warrant directed to a constable or the sheriff or sergeant of the
county or corporation wherein the defendant resides, together with
a copy thereof, requiring him to summon the person against whom the
claim is to appear before him or some other justice on a certain day,
not exceeding thirty days from the date thereof, to answer such claim.
It shall be made returnable to some place within the magisterial dis-
trict in which the defendant, or if there be more than one, either de-
fendant resides, or in the district in which the cause of action arose,
provided such cause of action arose within the county in which the
defendant, or one of the defendants, resides. If a public service cor-
poration be defendant, the warrant may be issued and tried in the
county or corporation in which the cause of action or any part thereof
arose. The warrant may be executed in any part of the county or
corporation. The warrant shall be served as provided for in sections
six thousand and forty-one, six thousand and sixty-three and six thou-
sand and sixty-four.

Proceedings before a justice, including justices, civil and police
justices, trial justices and judges of mayoralty courts, but excluding
civil justices and civil judges in cities containing thirty thousand in-
habitants or more by the last United States census, in civil matters of
which he may have jurisdiction, may also be by notice of motion, the
same to conform as nearly as may be practicable, to proceedings under
section six thousand and forty-six of the Code of Virginia, except that
such notice shall be made returnable not more than thirty days from
the date of service thereof, shall be executed not less than ten days
before the return day, and returned to the justice before whom re-
turnable, not less than five days before the return day thereof, and
any such notice shall be in writing and shall be signed by the attorney
for the plaintiff.

Where the word “warrant” is used in any section of the Code, or
act of assembly, concerning proceedings before such justices in civil
cases, it shall be construed to mean “warrant or notice.”