Chap. 66.—An ACT to amend and reenact Section 5189 of the Code of Virginia, as
amended, relating to docketing conditional sales contracts, and certain other
contracts, so as to increase docketing fees. S 8

Approved March 3, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section fifty-one hundred eighty-nine of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended, be amended and reenacted so as to read as fol-
lows:

Section 5189. Reservation of title to, and liens on, goods and
chattels sold, to be void as to creditors, and purchasers for value, un-
less in writing and docketed.—Every sale, or contract for the sale of
goods and chattels, wherein the title thereto, or a lien thereon, is
reserved, until the same be paid for, in whole or in part, or the trans-
fer of title is made to depend on any condition, where possession is
delivered to the vendee, shall, in respect to such reservation and con-
dition be void as to creditors of the vendee who acquire a lien upon
the goods and as to purchasers from the vendee, for value, without
notice, from such vendee unless such sale or contract be evidenced
by writing, signed by the vendor and the vendee, setting forth the
date thereof, the amount due, when and how payable, a brief de-
scription of the goods and chattels, and the terms of the reservation
or condition; and unless said writing is filed for docketing with the
clerk of the county or corporation, where deeds are admitted to rec-
ord, as provided by law, in which said goods and chattels may be;
provided, that if such filing for docketing be done within five days
from the delivery of the goods and chattels to the vendee, it shall be
valid as to creditors and purchasers as if such filing for docketing
had been done on the day of such delivery of the goods and chattels ;
and it shall be the duty of such clerk to endorse on such contract
the words, “filed and docketed” together with the day and hour of
such filing with the signature of the clerk affixed thereto; or, if such
goods and chattels consist of locomotives, cars, or other rolling stock,
equipments, or personal property of any description, to be used in
or about the operation of any railroad, operating as a public service
corporation, until and except from the time the said writing is duly
docketed in the clerk’s office of the county or the corporation, where
deeds are admitted to record, as provided by law, wherein the prin-
cipal office, in this State, of the company operating such railroad is
located, and a copy of said writing be filed in the office of the State
Corporation Commission, and each locomotive, car, or other piece
of rolling stock, be plainly and permanently marked with the name
of the vendor, on both sides thereof, followed by the word “owner.”’

It shall be the duty of the clerk to docket the writings mentioned
herein by setting out the above mentioned particulars of the contract
in a well bound book, to be called the “conditional sales book,” and
to index the same thereon, or in a separate general index book kept
for that purpose, alphabetically, in the name of both the vendor and
the vendee, for which service he may charge a fee of fifty cents; but
no tax shall be charged thereon. The clerk shall, after having dock-
eted such contract, return the same to the party filing the same for
docketing.

All recordations and docketings made, as required by law, as it
existed before the Code of Virginia of nineteen hundred nineteen
became effective, between the thirteenth day of January, nineteen
hundred twenty and the nineteenth day of March, nineteen hundred
twenty, both inclusive, are hereby validated, except where the valid-
ity of such recording or docketing has been or could be attacked or
questioned in litigation now pending; and provided, further, that all
recordations and docketings made in accordance with an act ap-
proved March nineteenth, nineteen hundred twenty, entitled an act
to amend and reenact section fifty-one hundred eighty-nine of the
Code of Virginia, as amended by an act approved September fifth,
nineteen hundred nineteen, are hereby validated ; and provided, fur-
ther, that all recordations and docketings heretofore made of such
writings without filing a memorandum thereof, are hereby validated ;
but nothing in this provision shall be construed as intended to affect
vested rights.