Chap. 417.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 19 of the Code of Virginia, as
heretofore amended, ceding to the United States certain jurisdiction over lands
acquired for certain purposes. [H B 430}

Approved April 1, 1940

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

Section 19. The conditional consent of the Commonwealth of
Virginia is hereby given to the acquisition by the United States, or
under its authority, by purchase, lease, condemnation, or otherwise,
of any lands in Virginia, whether under water or not, from any indi-
vidual, firm, association or body corporate, for sites for customs houses,
courthouses, arsenals, forts, naval bases, military or naval air ports
or airplane landing fields or for any military or naval purpose. The
conditions upon which this consent is given are as follows:

That there is hereby reserved in the Commonwealth of Virginia,
over all lands so acquired by the United States for the purposes afore-
said, the jurisdiction and power to levy a tax on oil, gasoline and all
other motor fuels and lubricants thereon owned by others than the
United States and a tax on the sale thereof, on said lands, except sales
to the United States for use in the exercise of essentially governmental
functions; there is further expressly reserved in the Commonwealth
of Virginia the jurisdiction and power to serve criminal and civil
process on said lands and to license and regulate, or to prohibit, the
sale of intoxicating liquors on any such land and to tax all property,
including buildings erected thereon, not belonging to the United
States and to require licenses and impose license taxes upon any busi-
ness or businesses conducted thereon. For all purposes of taxation
and of the jurisdiction of the courts of Virginia over persons, trans-
actions, matters and property on said lands, the said lands shall be
deemed to bea part of the county or city in which they are situated.
Any such acquisition by or conveyance or lease to the United States,
as is herein provided for, shall be deemed to have been secured or
made upon the express condition that the reservations of power and
limitations hereinabove provided for are recognized as valid by the
United States, and, in the event the United States shall deny the
validity of same, as to all or any part of such lands, then and in that
event, the title and possession of all or any such part of such lands
conveyed to the United States by the Commonwealth of Virginia shall
immediately revert to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Over all lands
acquired by or leased or conveyed to the United States pursuant to
the conditional consent herein conferred, the Commonwealth of Vir-
ginia hereby cedes to the United States concurrent jurisdiction, legis-
lative, executive and judicial, with respect to the commission of
crimes and the arrest, trial and punishment therefor, and also cedes
to the United States the power and jurisdiction to protect said lands
and all property of the United States thereon from damage, depreda-
tion or destruction, to regulate traffic on the highways thereon and all
necessary jurisdiction and power to operate and administer said land
and property thereon for the purposes for which same may be con-
veyed to the United States, but said jurisdiction and power hereby
ceded to the United States shall not be construed as being in any
respect inconsistent with or as in any way impairing the jurisdiction
and powers hereinabove specifically reserved to the Commonwealth of
Virginia. The jurisdiction and powers hereby ceded shall not apply
to lands acquired for the purposes enumerated in section nineteen-a
of the Code. Whenever the United States shall cease to use any of
said lands so acquired for any one or more of the purposes hereinabove
set forth, the jurisdiction and powers herein ceded shall as to same
cease and determine, and shall revert to the Commonwealth of Vir-
ginia.

Provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall affect any
special act heretofore or hereafter passed ceding jurisdiction to the
United States.