Chap. 47.—An ACT to amend an act entitled ‘‘An act concerning weights and
measures; and to repeal Sections 1464 to 1470, both inclusive, and Sections 1472
to 1485, both inclusive, of the Code of Virginia,’’ approved March 14, 1924, as
heretofore amended, by adding thereto a new section numbered 5-b, relating
to the operation and conduct of livestock auction markets, and providing for
the collection of certain moneys by, and for the appropriation of the same to,
the Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration. [IH B 20]

Approved February 16, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
an act entitled ‘“‘An Act concerning weights and measures; and to
repeal sections fourteen hundred and sixty-four to fourteen hundred
and seventy, both inclusive, and sections fourteen hundred and
seventy-two to fourteen hundred and eighty-five, both inclusive, of
the Code of Virginia,’”’ approved March fourteenth, nineteen hundred
and twenty-four, as heretofore amended, be amended by adding
thereto a new section numbered five-b, which new section shall read
as follows:

Section 5-b. Livestock Auction Markets.—At every livestock
auction market in this State all weighing shall be done by or in the
presence of weighmasters appointed by the Commissioner of Agri-
culture and Immigration. The said Commissioner shall appoint as
many weighmasters as may be necessary to perform the said duties,
shall fix their compensation, and may remove them at any time.
Such weighmaster shall see that all weights of livestock are correctly
made and correctly recorded, and the auction market shall give to
the weighmasters all facilities necessary for the proper performance
of their duties. All reasonable and actual costs of such service not
exceeding five dollars per person employed as weighmaster per auction
day shall be paid by the person or persons who operate or conduct
such market, and shall become due on the fifteenth day of the month
next succeeding that in which such service is rendered, and upon
default thereof may be recovered by civil action brought in the
name of the said Commissioner. The moneys collected pursuant
hereto shall be paid into the State Treasury and are hereby appro-
priated to the Department of Agriculture and Immigration as re-
imbursement for the expenditures made in furnishing the said service.

The weightbeams or other indicators of weight on all scales used
by any such weighmaster shall be so situated or constructed as to be
accessible to the view of all persons in interest, and the indications
thereon shall be clearly discernible at such place of access. If the
auction market scales are not equipped with recording beams, all
weighing of livestock shall be done by a weighmaster; if they are so
equipped, the weighing may be done either in the presence of the
weighmaster or by the weighmaster, at the option of the auction
market.

For the purpose of this act the term “livestock auction market”’
shall mean any place or establishment at which cattle, sheep, swine
or other livestock is sold, offered or exposed for sale, by weight, at
auction, for compensation or profit, and in the regular course of
business of such place or establishment provided, however, that by
mutual agreement between the consignor and the auction market the
provisions of this act shall not apply to livestock received at the
market on other than auction sale days. Any person operating or
conducting any such livestock auction market or any weighmaster
employed under this act, who shall violate any provision of this
section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon con-
viction thereof shall be punished accordingly. As used in this section
the term “‘person” shall include any individual, partnership, corpora-
tion, firm or association.

Provided, however, that the provisions of this section with ref-
erence to weighmasters shall not become applicable to any livestock
auction market until the board of supervisors of the county in which
said market is situated shall by affirmative recorded vote declare
said provisions operative in said county, and provided further that
the said provisions shall not become applicable to any livestock
auction market within any incorporated city entirely surrounded by a
single county, until the board of supervisors of the said county shall
declare by affirmative recorded vote that said provisions shall be
operative as to the livestock auction markets in said adjacent city.