Chap. 89.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4987-f, as heretofore amended,
of the Code of Virginia, relating to the jurisdiction of a trial justice, so as to
require any officer making an arrest, upon the request of the person arrested,
to take him before a justice of the peace or other officer having power to grant
bail for the purpose of being admitted to bail for his appearance before such
trial justice. [S B 86]

Approved February 26, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
section forty-nine hundred and eighty-seven-f, as heretofore amended,
of the Code of Virginia be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows: ,

Section 4987-f. Jurisdiction—The jurisdiction of such trial jus-
tice shall be as follows: ,

(1) The trial justice shall be a conservator of the peace within
the limits of the territory for which he is appointed. For the purpose
of this section the term “territory for which he is appointed’’ shall
mean the county or counties, including towns therein, and any city
or cities for which he is appointed trial justice.

(2) The trial justice shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of
all offenses against the ordinances, laws and by-laws of the respective
counties, cities and towns for which he is appointed and of all mis-
demeanors, except offenses of which jurisdiction is specifically vested
in the State Corporation Commission, arising under laws of the
Commonwealth. There shall be an appeal of right to the circuit
court of the county or the corporation court of the city as provided
for by the general law with reference to appeals from justices of the
peace. There shall also be an appeal of right to the circuit court of
the county or corporation court of the city from any order or judg-
ment of a trial justice forfeiting any recognizance or revoking any
suspension of sentence formerly entered by such trial justice. Not-
withstanding the provisions of this sub-section, the circuit court of
any county or the corporation court of any city shall have jurisdic-
tion to try any person for any misdemeanor for which such person
shall be indicted, or may certify such indictment to the trial justice
for trial in which latter case, the indictment shall be in lieu of any
warrant, petition, or other pleading constituting the charge which
might otherwise have been required by law. The trial justice shall
also have power to conduct preliminary examinations of persons
charged with crime in the manner prescribed for justices of the peace
by chapter one hundred and ninety-two of the Code. Trial justice
shall have the power to accept fines and costs within ten days if any
defendant decides to withdraw an appeal which has been noted.

(3) The trial justice shall have, within the limits of the territory
for which he is appointed, exclusive original jurisdiction of any claim
to specific personal property or to any debt, fine, or other money, or
to damages for breach of contract or for any injury done to property,
real and personal, or for any injury to the person, which would be
recoverable by action at law or suit in equity, when the amount of
such claim does not exceed the sum of two hundred dollars, and con-
current jurisdiction with the circuit court of the county or the city
court or courts of general jurisdiction, as the case may be, of any
such claim when the amount thereof exceeds two hundred dollars
but does not exceed one thousand dollars; but when the amount of
the claim exceeds the sum of three hundred dollars the trial justice
shall, at any time within ten days after the return date of the process,
provided judgment has not been rendered, but not thereafter, upon
the application of the defendant and the filing by him of an affidavit
of himself, his agent or attorney that he has a substantial defense to
the plaintiff's claim, and upon the payment by him of the costs
accrued to the time of removal, remove the case and all the papers
thereof, to the circuit court of the county or to the court of general
jurisdiction of the city, wherein the action was brought. The plaintiff
shall, within thirty days from the date of such removal, pay to the
clerk of the court to which the case has been removed the amount
of the writ tax as fixed by law, and four dollars on account of costs
in said court, and in the event of his failure so to do, the case shall
stand dismissed. On the trial of the case upon removal, the pro-
ceedings shall conform to the proceedings under sections six thousand
and forty-six of the Code of Virginia as now or hereafter amended.
For the purpose of this section the term ‘‘amount of claim’”’ shall
include any attorney’s fee contracted for in any instrument sued on,
but shall exclude interest and costs in all cases. The trial justice
shall also have jurisdiction of actions of unlawful detainer or entry
in cases provided by section fifty-four hundred and forty-five.

(4) Any civil action, within the jurisdiction conferred upon the
trial justice, may be brought in any county or city wherein the cause
of action, or any part thereof, arose, although neither the defendant
nor any one of the defendants reside therein, by warrant or notice of
motion returnable before the trial justice thereof; any such warrant
or notice of motion may be directed to a constable, sheriff or sergeant
of any county or city wherein the defendant resides or may be found:
but no such warrant or notice of motion shall be served or executed
in any other county or city than that wherein the action is brought,
unless it be (a) an action against a corporation, (b) an action upon
a bond taken by an officer under authority of some statute, (c) an
action to recover damages for a wrong, or (d) an action against two
or more defendants on one of whom such warrant or notice of motion
has been executed in the county or city in which the action is brought,
or (e) unless it be otherwise specially provided.

(5) The trial justice shall also have power to issue and juris-
diction to try and decide attachments where the amount of the
plaintiff’s claim does not exceed one thousand dollars, and the pro-
ceedings on any such attachment shall conform to the provisions of
chapter two hundred and sixty-nine of the Code of Virginia as now
or hereafter amended, except that when an attachment other than
under section sixty-four hundred and sixteen is returned executed and
the defendant has not been served with a copy thereof, the trial
justice, upon affidavit in conformity with section six thousand and
sixty-nine and six thousand and seventy of this Code, shall forthwith
cause to be posted at the front door of the court house of the county
a copy of the said attachment and shall file a certificate of the fact
with the papers in the case, and, in addition to the said posting, an
order of publication shall be awarded and published in accordance
with the provisions of sections six thousand and sixty-nine and six
thousand and seventy of the Code of Virginia. After said copy of
the attachment has been so posted and published as aforesaid, the
trial justice may proceed to try and decide the said attachment.

(6) The trial justice shall have power to issue the summons pro-
vided for by section sixty-five hundred and three, when the fieri
facias upon any final judgment heretofore or hereafter rendered was
issued by him. In such case such trial justice shall have all of the
powers and authority, respecting interrogatories, conferred by chapter
two hundred and seventy-two of this Code upon any court or judge
mentioned therein. The commissioner before whom any person is
required to appear by such summons, issued by any such trial justice,
shall have the same powers and authority as if such summons had
been issued by the clerk under section sixty-five hundred and three.
All interrogatories, answers, reports and other proceedings under
such summons, and also all money, evidence of debt and other se-
curity in the hands of an officer, which are directed by any section
of said chapter two hundred and seventy-two, to be returned or
delivered to such court or judge, or to the clerk’s office of such court,
shall when the said summons was issued by such trial justice, be
returned or delivered in like manner to said trial justice. From any
order made in such proceedings by a trial justice which involves the
disposition of any money or property exceeding the sum of fifty
dollars in value, exclusive of interest, there shall be an appeal in the
same manner and upon the same conditions as in the case of appeals
allowed from judgments rendered by the trial justice in civil cases.

Except as herein otherwise specifically provided, all statutes here-
tofore enacted, except section forty-eight hundred and sixteen of the
Code, conferring any power, authority, or jurisdiction upon justices
of the peace in any civil action or proceeding, shall apply in like
manner to trial justices appointed hereunder.

(7) The trial justice shall, within his general jurisdiction within
the territory for which he is appointed, have power to issue warrants,
summons and subpoenas, including subpoenas duces tecum, in civil
and criminal cases, to be returnable before him.

No justice of the peace or mayor shall, within any county or in
any incorporated town located therein, or in any city, for which a
trial justice is appointed, exercise any civil or criminal jurisdiction
herein conferred on such trial justice. Justices of the peace within
their respective counties and mayors or other trial officers, within
their respective territorial jurisdictions shall, however, have the same
power to issue attachments, warrants and subpoenas within the juris-
diction of the trial justice as is conferred upon the trial justice, and
they shall also have power to grant bail in any case in which they
are now authorized by general law to grant bail and to receive their
fees therefor, but said attachments, warrants and subpoenas shall
be returnable before the trial justice for action thereon. |
Any officer making an arrest for a misdemeanor within any county
or city for which a trial justice has been appointed, shall, upon the
request of the person so arrested, take him with reasonable prompt-
ness before the nearest or any other available justice of the peace,
or other officer having power to grant bail for the purpose of being
admitted to bail for his appearance before the said trial justice.

(8) Except as herein otherwise specifically provided, all the pro-
visions of law now in force or which may hereafter be enacted govern-
ing granting of bail, procedure and appeals in criminal cases, relating
to police justices in cities shall apply in like manner to trial justices
appointed hereunder, and all provisions of law now in force or which
may hereafter be enacted governing procedure, removal and appeals
in civil cases relating to civil and police justices and civil justices in
cities, shall apply in like manner to trial justices appointed hereunder;
except that in each county removals and appeals shall be to the cir-
cuit court of the county. No appeal shall lie, however, in any civil
case from a trial justice’s court where the amount in controversy does
not exceed the amount of twenty dollars, exclusive of interest and
costs. :

(9) The said trial justice shall have the same powers in matters
of contempt as are conferred on courts and judges by the general law,
but in no case shall the fine exceed twenty-five dollars and imprison-
ment exceed ten days for the same contempt. From any such fine or
sentence an appeal shall be allowed as appeals are allowed from such
trial justice in civil cases, and the proceedings in such appeals shall
conform in all other respects to the provisions of section forty-five
hundred and twenty-three.

(10) The trial justice shall have authority to take affidavits and
administer oaths and affirmations in all matters and proceedings, and
shall have power to issue all appropriate orders or writs, including
the power to appoint guardians ad litem in all proper cases in aid of
the jurisdiction conferred upon him, but he shall have no authority
to take depositions or to take adknowledgments to deeds or other
writings for purposes of recordation.

(11) The trial justice shall also have and exercise, concurrently
with justices of the peace, the jurisdiction now or hereafter conferred
by general law upon justices of the peace in all matters in connection
with the adjudication and commitment of insane, epileptic, feeble-
minded, and inebriate persons, and the institution and conduct of
proceedings therefor.

(12) Notwithstanding other provisions of sections forty-nine
hundred and eighty-seven-a to forty-nine hundred and eighty-seven-o,
both inclusive, to the contrary, any city and any incorporated town
within the jurisdiction of any trial justice appointed pursuant to the
said sections may, by a resolution adopted by a majority of the mem-
bers of the council thereof, continue in the mayor or other trial officer
thereof all jurisdiction now vested in such mayor or other trial officer
pertaining to the issuance of warrants and the summoning of wit-
nesses and the trial of cases involving violations of city and town
ordinances, in which event the said mayor or other trial officer shall
collect all fees and fines provided for and pay the same into the
treasury of the respective city or town as now provided by law or
by ordinance of his said city or town.

(13) Nothing contained herein shall be so construed as to affect
the jurisdiction of the mayor or other trial officer of any city unless a
trial justice is appointed for such city in accordance with the pro-
visions of section forty-nine hundred and eighty-seven-c.