Chap. 47.-An ACT to revise, rearrange and consolidate into one act certain acts
relating to the Attorney General; to provide for his assistants, clerks, stenog-
raphers and employees and for their compensation; to prescribe the authority
and duties of the Attorney General and to provide for commerce counsel for
the State Corporation Commission; and to repeal certain sections of the Code
and acts relating to the Attorney General and his office, and to designate this
act as Section 374-A of the Code of Virginia. [S B 66]

Approved February 19, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

Section 1. The Attorney General shall be the chief executive officer
of the Department of Law, and as such shall perform such duties as
may be provided by law.

Section 2. Opinions.—He shall give his advice and render official
opinions in writing only when requested in writing so to do by one of
the following: the Governor; a member of the General Assembly; a
judge of a court of record or a justice of the peace or trial justice;
the State Corporation Commission ; an attorney for the Commonwealth ;
a clerk of a court; a city or county sheriff or constable or city sergeant ;
a city or county treasurer; a commissioner of the revenue; the head
of a State department, division, bureau, institution or board. Except
in cases where such opinion is requested by the Governor or a member
of the General Assembly the Attorney General shall have no authority
or render an official opinion unless the question dealt with is directly
related to the discharge of the duties of the official requesting same.
Opinions upon questions relating to the election laws may, in appro-
priate cases, be given to a chairman of an electoral board.

Section 3. Other Duties.—All legal service in civil matters for the
Commonwealth, the Governor, the State Corporation Commission and
every State department, institution, division, commission, board, bureau
or official, including the conduct of all civil litigation in which any of
them are interested, shall be rendered and performed by the Attorney
General, except as hereinafter provided. No regular counsel shall be
employed for or by the Governor, the State Corporation Commission
or any State department, institution, division, commission, board,
bureau or official.

Section 4. Special Counsel—No special counsel shall be employed
for or by the Governor, the State Corporation Commission or any State
department, institution, division, commission, board, bureau or officer,
except in the following cases:
(a) In case of an emergency, proclaimed by the Governor, where
because of the nature of the service to be performed, the Attorney
General’s office is unable to render same, the Governor may employ
special counsel to render such service as the Governor may deem
necessary and proper.

(b) In cases of legal services in civil matters to be performed for
the Commonwealth, where it is impracticable or uneconomical for the
Attorney General to render same, he may employ special counsel whose
compensation shall be paid out of the appropriation for the Attorney
General’s office.

(c) In cases of legal services in civil matters to be performed for
the State Corporation Commission or any State department, institu-
tion, division, board, bureau or officer, where it is impracticable or
uneconomical for the Attorney General’s office to render same, special
counsel may be employed but only upon the written recommendation
of the Attorney General, who shall approve all requisitions drawn
upon the Comptroller for warrants as compensation for such special
counsel before the comptroller shall have authority to issue such warrants.

Section 5. Commerce Counsel.—The State Corporation Commis-
sion may employ one attorney, to be known as commerce counsel, who
shall conduct such matters and litigation before the Interstate Com-
merce Commission as the State Corporation Commission may direct,
and whose compensation shall be provided for in the appropriation for
the commission. The State Corporation Commission may also require
the services of the commerce counsel in appropriate proceedings before
the State Corporation Commission and public service commissions of
other states. When authorized so to do by the Attorney General and
the State Corporation Commission, he shall perform such other serv-
ices as they may jointly direct.

Section 6. Criminal Cases.—-Unless specifically requested by the
Governor so to do, the Attorney General shall have no authority to
institute or conduct criminal prosecutions in the circuit or corporation
courts of the State except in cases involving violations of the Alcoholic
Beverage Control Act and laws relating to Motor Vehicles and their
operation and the handling of funds by a State bureau, institution,
commission or department, in which cases the Attorney General may
leave the prosecution to the local attorney for the Commonwealth, or
he may, in his discretion, institute proceedings by information, present-
ment or indictment, as the one or the other may be appropriate, and
conduct the same. In all other criminal cases in the circuit and cor-
poration courts, except where the law provides otherwise, the authority
of the Attorney General to appear or participate in the proceedings
shall not attach unless and until a writ of error has been granted by
the Supreme Court of Appeals. In all criminal cases before the Su-
preme Court of Appeals in which the Commonwealth is a party or is
directly interested, the Attorney General shall appear and represent
the Commonwealth.

Section 7. Counsel for State in Federal Matters—The Attorney
General shall represent the interests of the Commonwealth, its depart-
ments, boards, institutions and commissions in matters before or con-
troversies with the officers and several departments of the Government
of the United States.

Section 8. Authority to Settle Disputes——The Attorney General
shall have authority to compromise and settle disputes, claims and
controversies involving the interests of the Commonwealth, but only
after the proposed compromise or settlement, together with the reasons
therefor, have been submitted in writing to the Governor and approved
by him. Where any dispute, claim or controversy involves the interests
of any State department, institution, division, commission, board or
bureau, the Attorney General shall have authority to compromise and
settle same provided such compromise or settlement be approved both
by the Governor, in the manner above provided, and by the head of the
State department, institution, division, board or bureau which is
interested,

Section 9. Annual Reports——The Attorney General shall annually,
on or before the first day of December, deliver to the Governor a
report of the State and condition of all causes in which he has appeared
for the Commonwealth in the courts or before the State Corporation
Commission during the preceding fiscal year, as well as other impor-
tant matters in which he has represented the State during said year.
He shall also include in his report such official opinions rendered by
him as he believes to be of general interest or helpful in promoting
uniformity in the construction of the laws of the State.

Section 10. Compensation of Attorney General——-The Attorney
General shall receive for his services the sum of seven thousand dollars
per annum.

Section 11. Assistant Attorneys General—The Attorney General is
authorized to employ two assistant Attorneys General at a salary not
to exceed five thousand dollars per annum each, one assistant Attorney
General at a salary not to exceed four thousand two hundred and fifty
dollars, two assistant Attorneys General at a salary not to exceed four
thousand dollars each, and one assistant Attorney General at a salary
not to exceed three thousand dollars.

Section 12. Clerical Force—The Attorney General shall have power
to appoint such clerical force as he may deem necessary for the efficient
conduct of his office, and to apportion, out of the appropriation for
his office, such salaries among the law clerks, secretaries and stenog-
raphers as he may think proper, but the aggregate amount paid them
shall not exceed the amount provided by law.

Section 13. Office Space—The Governor shall assign to the At-
torney General office space in the State Library Building or elsewhere
for the Attorney General, his assistants and employees suitable for
the transaction of the legal business of the State.

Section 14. Contingent and Traveling Expenses——The Attorney
General shall have power to expend for the contingent expenses of
his office such sums as may be available out of the appropriation for
his office made by the General Assembly. The Attorney General, as-
sistant Attorneys General and employees of the office shall be reim-
bursed for all travel in the performance of their duties.

Section 15. Repeal of Certain Acts.—Section three hundred and
i

seventy-two of the Code of Virginia, section three hundred and seventy-
five of said Code, as amended by chapter seventy-seven of the Acts of
nineteen hundred and thirty-four, sections three hundred and seventy-
six and three hundred and seventy-seven of said Code, section three
hundred and seventy-eight of said Code, as amended by chapter thirty-
nine of the Acts of nineteen hundred and thirty-four, and section
thirty-four hundred and thirty-three of said Code, as amended by
chapter forty of the Acts of nineteen hundred and thirty-four, are each
and all of them hereby repealed.

Section 16. Nothing in this act shall apply to the administration by
boards appointed by the Governor of endowment funds, trusts, gifts,
devises and bequests to and for institutions of higher education.

Section 17. This act shall be designated as and hereafter constitute
section three hundred and seventy-four-a of the Code of Virginia.