CHAPTER 14

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 17-145, 17-147, 17-149 through 17-152,
17-158 as amended, 17-154, 17-168, 17-164 and 17-169 of the Code of
Virginia, and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding thereto sections
numbered 17--169.1 through 17-169.4, the amended and new sections
relating to certain courts of the City of Richmond so as to provide
for a change in the jurisdiction and/or organization of such courts;
and to repeal 8§ 17-170 through 17-182. oH 491

Approved February 17, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 17-145, 17-147, 17-149 through 17-152, 17-153 as amended,
17-154, 17-168, 17-164 and 17-169 of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted and that the Code of Virginia be amended by adding thereto
sections numbered 17-169.1 through 17-169.4 as follows:

“ 17-145. There shall be for the city of Richmond the following
courts:

(1) The Hustings Court of the city of Richmond.

(2) The Hustings Court of the city of Richmond, Part Two.

(3) The Chancery Court of the city of Richmond.

(4) The Law and Equity Court of the city of Richmond.

*(5) The Circuit Court of the city of Richmond.

§ 17-147. The Chancery Court, Hustings Court, Hustings Court, Part
Two, and Law and Equity Court *, and the judges thereof, respectively,
shall have the same power as a circuit court or circuit judge to admit to
bail and award injunctions and likewise the same jurisdiction of proceed-
ings by writ of habeas corpus, writ of quo warranto or information in
the nature of a writ of quo warranto, writ of mandamus and writ of
prohibition.

§ 17-149. The Chancery Court, Circuit Court, Law and Equity Court
* and Hustings Court, Part Two, of the city of Richmond, or either of
them, may for good cause shown or to equalize the work of such courts
with one another remove to either or any of such courts having juris-
diction thereof any case or cases pending in the court or courts making
such removal.

The original papers in every case removed under the provisions of
this section, together with a certified copy of the order of removal shall
be forthwith transferred by the clerk of the court to which the cause is
removed and thereupon the cause shall, without any further formality,
be placed upon the docket of the court as if it had been brought and the
previous proceedings had therein.

§ 17-150. Appeals, writs of error and supersedeas from and to
judgments, decrees and orders of such Chancery Court, Hustings Court,
Hustings Court, Part Two, Law and Equity Court *, and the judges
thereof, respectively, shall be taken and allowed, as from and to judgments,
decrees and orders of a circuit court or judge.

§ 17-151. There.shall be a clerk of the Hustings Court, of the
Hustings Court, Part Two, of the Chancery Court, and of the Law and
Equity Court, each of whom shall be elected by the qualified voters of the
city on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November for terms
of eight years. * The terms of the clerk so elected shall begin on the first
day of February of the second year following the year of their election.
They shall each receive the same fees and emoluments that are allowed
by law to clerks of circuit courts. The clerk of the Hustings Court shall
also receive out of the treasury of the city of Richmond, for his services
to the public of the city, such sum as the judge may allow, not exceeding
the sum of eighteen hundred dollars in one year, and he shall be allowed
the sum of one thousand dollars a year for public services rendered the
Commonwealth, payable in monthly instalments, from the State treasury
out of any money not otherwise appropriated.

§ 17-152. There shall be kept in the clerks’ offices of the Chancery
Court of the city of Richmond, of the Law and Equity Court of the city,
* and of the Hustings Court, Part Two, of the city, a book in which shall
be kept complete and accurate accounts of all securities of whatever nature
and money deposited in any bank, or in the hands of any officer or depos-
itory of such courts, or otherwise under the control or subject to the order
of such courts, and also of all notes or bonds given for the deferred pay-
ments of the purchase money for real estate sold under orders of such
co ™

Each of the clerks of such courts shall enter in such books, under
appropriate accounts, all the money, notes or bonds which shall be deposited
to the credit of the court with any such bank, officer or depository and
also all the money, notes or bonds which shall be thereafter paid out or
withdrawn under orders of the court, so that such book shall at all times
show the true amount of money, notes or bonds so under the control or
subject to the order of the court. And such books shall be open for inspec-
tion to the public.

For their services under this section each of the clerks shall be
entitled to a fee of one dollar per year for each account so kept on such
books for each year to which any entry is made in any such account, which
fee shall be taxed in the costs of the suit to which the money, notes or
bonds belong. But only one account of the money, notes or bonds belonging
to any one suit shall be kept in such book, unless otherwise ordered by the
court, and no fee shall be charged for any account for any year in which
no entry is made therein.
17-153. The Hustings Court of the city of Richmond shall have:

(1) Jurisdiction of all presentments, indictments and informations
for offenses committed within the corporate limits of the city of Richmond,
except prosecutions against convicts in the penitentiary; «=.

(2) Concurrent jurisdiction with the other courts having jurisdiction
thereof of all presentments, indictments and informations for offenses
committed within the space of one mile of the limits of the city;

(8) * Jurisdiction * of actions of forcible or unlawful entry and
detainer; |

(4) Jurisdiction of all appeals allowed by any State law or ordinance
of the city from the judgments of the police * court and traffic court;

(6) Jurisdiction of all proceedings for the condemnation, for public
use, of any land or property within the corporate limits of the city; and
af such land or property is situated partly within the city and partly within
a county, concurrent jurisdiction of such proceedings as to such land or
property situated within such county with the circuit court of such county;

(6) Exclusive jurisdiction of all motions to correct erroneous assess-
ments on real estate within such limits; and

(7) Jurisdiction of all presentments, indictments and informations
for all offenses committed within the geographical limits of the city of
Richmond, except Henrico Courthouse Square which is a part of Henrico
County, specifically including the Capitol Square and all other property
of the Commonwealth of Virginia within such limits except the State
Penitentiary.

§ 17-154. The Hustings Court of the city of Richmond, Part Two,
shall have the jurisdiction conferred on the Hustings Court by the pre-
ceding section, except as provided in paragraph numbered (6) of § 17-158,
and in addition thereto shall have, within the corporate limits of the city
of Richmond, concurrent jurisdiction with the Chancery Court of the city
of all suits and proceedings in chancery cognizable by law in the circuit
courts of the Commonwealth, except such as are specifically cognizable
in the Circuit Court of the city of Richmond, and shall also have concur-
rent jurisdiction with the Law and Equity Court, * of all common law
cases of which * that court has concurrent jurisdiction; and within that
part of the city of Richmond south of the James River, but not including
the islands in such river, it shall have such jurisdiction, as a court of
probate and registry, as is exercised by the Chancery Court of the city
of Richmond. This section shall not be construed as conferring appellate
jurisdiction on the Hustings Court of the city of Richmond, Part Two,
except from judgments of the Police Court of the city of Richmond, Part

0.

§ 17-163. * The Circuit Court of the city of Richmond, and the
judge thereof * shall * have jurisdiction of * only such suits, motions,
prosecutions, matters and things as are specifically cognizable by such
court or judge under Chapters 3, 34 and 35 of Title 8, Chapter 13 of Title
19, Chapter 13 of Title 53 and § 8-749 or any other section of the Code,
except that the court or the judge shall retain jurisdiction as to each suit,
motion, prosecution, matter or thing now or heretofore properly pending
therein, and except that such court shall have jurisdiction of all civil
cases arising within the Capitol Square.

§ 17-164. The Law and Equity Court and the judges thereof shall,
within the corporate limits of the city of Richmond, have * the same
jurisdiction which the circuit courts, corporation courts and the judges
of each have within their respective territorial limits, except as to matters
of criminal jurisdiction, the probate and recordation of wills, the appoint-
ment and qualification of fiduciaries, save when it may become necessary
to appoint a fiduciary in the progress of a suit pending in such court, the
ex parte settlement of * accounts of fiduciaries, the docketing of judg-
ments and the recordation in the mode prescribed by law of deeds and
other papers authorized or required by law to be recorded. *

The Law and Equity Court * and the judges thereof, respectively,
shall also have the same power as a circuit court or a circuit judge to admit
to bail and award injunctions and the same jurisdiction of proceedings
by writ of habeas corpus, writ of quo warranto or information in the
nature of a writ of quo warranto, writ of mandamus and writ of
prohibition.

Appeals and writs of error and of supersedeas from and to orders,
decrees and judgments of the Law and Equity Court shall be taken and
allowed as if they were from and to those of a circuit court or of a circuit

judge.

§ 17-169. The Law and Equity Court of the city of Richmond shall
have three judges. They shall be appointed, and vacancies occurring
therein shall be filled, in the same manner and for the same term provided
by general law applicable to the filling of vacancies in the office of Judge
of Circuit Courts. The provisions of § 17-137.1 shall apply mutatis mutandi
to the orginal election or appointment of the third judge of the Law and
Equity Court. The salary of the judges of the Law and Equity Court shall
be paid in the manner prescribed by law.

§ 17.169.1. From time to time the Supreme Court of Appeals shall
designate one of the judges of the Law and Equity Court as its presiding
judge. The presiding judge shall have authority to assign the work of the
Law and Equity Court as between the judges thereof, the entry of an
order being unnecessary to such assignment. Except as herein provided,
the other judges, during their tenure, shall have the same powers and
duties as the presiding judge.

§ 17-169.2. Judges of the Law and Equity Court shall, during their
tenure, reside within the corporate limits of the city of Richmond.

§ 17-169.8. The appointment of guardians ad litem and receivers,
and any other appointments incident to the trial, hearing or disposition
of any suit in chancery, action at law or other judicial proceeding may
be made by any judge of the Law and Equity Court except where a judge
has begun presiding in any such proceeding in which event such judge
shall make the appointment. All other appointments shall be made by the
judges jointly, or a majority thereof.

§ 17-169.4. The jurisdiction, functions and records of the Law and
Equity Court, Part Two, of the city of Richmond are transferred to the
Law and Equity Court of the City of Richmond. Each matter, case and
proceeding now or heretofore properly pending in the Law and Equity
Court, Part Two, is transferred to, and shall be subject to the jurisdiction
of the Law and Equity Court. The Judge of the Law and Equity Court,
Part Two, is hereby constituted one of the judges of the Law and Equity
Court to serve for the unexpired portion of his existing term.

2. §§ 17-170 through 17-182 of the Code of Virginia are repealed.
3. The provisions of this act shall become effective August one, nineteen
hundred fifty-four.

CHAPTER 14
City Attorney

14.01.—Appointment and Qualification.

The council shall elect, at its first meeting in December, 1954, or as
soon thereafter as convenient, a city attorney for a term expiring Decem-
ber 31, 1956, and every two years thereafter, a City attorney, whose term
shall begin January 1, following his election. He shall at the time of his
election have practiced law in the State of Virginia for at least three years
and in the City of Galax for at least one year. He shall be the legal advisor
of and attorney and counsel for the City and the school board of the City
and for all officers, and departments thereof, in matters relating to their
official duties. He shall prosecute all suits, actions and proceedings for
and on behalf of the City and the school board of the City, and defend all
suits, actions and proceedings against the same, and shall prepare all con-
tracts, bonds and other instruments in writing, in which the City or the
school board of the City are interested or concerned, and shall endorse on
each his approval of the form and correctness thereof, provided that in
the case of bonds to be issued by the City it shall be sufficient if he certify
to the council his approval thereof as to form in a separate writing, to be
filed and preserved with the records of the council. The said city attorney
shall perform such other duties as may be required of him by ordinance or
resolution of the council.