Chap. 81.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 6452 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to liens on crops for advances to farmers.

[S B 149]
Approved March 2, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
sixty-four hundred and fifty-two of the Code of Virginia, as heretofore
amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 6452. Lien on crops for advances to farmers; nature and
agreement thereof; where recorded: when verified statement of ad-
vances required.—If any person, other than a landlord, makes advances,
either in money or supplies, or other thing of value, to anyone who is
engaged in, or is about to engage in, the cultivation of the soil, the
person so making such advances shall have a lien on the crops which
may be made or seeded and/or fruit or other crops maturing during
the year upon the lands in or about the cultivation of which the advances
so made have been, or were intended to be expended, to the extent
of such advances; but the person making such advances shall not have
the benefit of the lien, given in this section, unless there is an agree-
ment, in writing, signed by both parties, in which there is specified the
amount advanced, or a limit to be fixed beyond which any advances, made
from time to time during the year, shall not go, and the said agreement
be docketed in the office of the clerk of the county in which the said
land so cultivated, or to be cultivated, lies, in a well-bound book to be
known as “crop lien book,” and alphabetically indexed therein, by
said clerk, setting forth the date of the lien, a briet description of the
land so cultivated, or to be cultivated, sufficient to locate the same
‘f stated in the writing, the name of the lienor and the lienee, the
amount advanced on the limit thereof, and the crops affected; and
from the time such lien is docketed and indexed, it shall have the same
force and effect as if recorded in the deed book, and shall be valid as
to purchasers without notice from, and the creditors of, the parties
or party obtaining such advances; and in the event of a sale under
a deed of trust or mortgage, of the land upon which any such crop
has been so seeded and/or may be growing, and before said crop has
been severed, such sale shall be made subject to the said crop lien,
and the rights of the holder or beneficiary of such lien shall be protected
in the same manner and to the same extent that the rights of the tenant
would be protected under similar circumstances under the provisions
of section fifty-five hundred and forty of the Code of Virginia, as
amended by chapter four hundred and fifty of the Acts of Assembly
of nineteen hundred and twenty-eight; provided, that whenever the
crops are subject to a lien of a fiert facias or attachment, whether
a levy be actually made or not, it shall be the duty of the person
claiming a lien under this section, upon the request of the sheriff, or
any other party in interest, to render to the sheriff of the county
wherein the crops are grown, a complete and itemized statement, under
oath, of the claims for advances, showing the nature of the claims,
the dates of advancement and the respective amounts. And in case
the person claiming advances fails to render to the sheriff of such
county the verified itemized statement above provided for within five
days after request has been made, he shall forever lose the benefit of
the lien on the crops for advances granted him under this section; and
provided, further, that if the execution creditor or attachment creditor
desires to contest the validity of the claims for advances, he may cause
the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which such crops are
grown to summon the person claiming the lien for advances to appear
‘before such court and show to the satisfaction of the court that such
money, supplies or other things of value were advanced for the pur-
pose of, and were actually used, in and about the cultivation of the
crops upon which the lien is claimed.

For the services of the clerk in recording a crop lien under this
section, he shall receive a fee of twenty-five cents.

2. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby
repealed.

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