Chap. 102.-An ACT to amend and reenact Section 5-b of Chapter 216 of the
Acts of Assembly of 1924, which section was added to such chapter by Chapter
47 of the Acts of Assembly of 1940, approved February 16, 1940, relating to
the conduct of livestock auction markets and the duties of weighmasters at
such markets. {H 160]

Approved March 4, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section five-b of chapter two hundred sixteen of the
Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred twenty-four, which section
was added to such chapter by chapter forty-seven of the Acts of
Assembly of nineteen hundred forty, approved February sixteen,
nineteen hundred forty, be amended and reenacted as follows:

Section 5-b. Livestock Auction Markets.—At every livestock
uction market in this State all weighing shall be done by or in
te presence of weighmasters appointed by the Commissioner of
ericulture and Immigration. The Commissioner shall appoint

many weighmasters as may be necessary to perform the said
ties, shall fix their compensation, and may remove them at any
1c. 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 pro-
per performance of their duties. All reasonable and actual costs
of such service not exceeding ten 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 Commissioner. The moneys
collected pursuant hereto shall be paid into the State treasury and
are hereby appropriated to the Department of Agriculture and
Immigration as reimbursement for the expenditures made in
furnishing the said service.

The weighbeams 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 ac-
cess. 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 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 weigh-
master employed under this act, who shall violate any provision of
this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
conviction thereof shall be punished accordingly. As used in this
section the term “person” shall include any individual, partnership,
corporation, firm or association.

Provided that the provisions of this section with reference to
weighmasters shall not become applicable to any livestock auction
market until the board of supervisors of the county in which the
market is situated shall by affirmative recorded vote declare said
provisions operative in the 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 county shall declare
by affirmative recorded vote that the provisions shall be operative
as to the livestock auction markets in the adjacent city.