CHAPTER 551

An Act to amend and reenact § 17-119, as amu.uded, of the Code of
Virginia, relating to judicial circuits and additional judges in certain
judicial circuits; and to amend and reenact §§ 17-221.1, 17-221.4,
17-221.7, 17-221.10, and 17-221.14 of the Code of Virginia, relating
to the courts of record of the city of Newport News; to the election,
compensation and duties of the clerks of such courts; to prescribe the
jurisdiction of such courts; and to provide for interchange of
and transfer of cases between such courts. ,

Approved March 31, 1960

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 17-119, 17-221.1, 17-221.4, 17-221.7, 17-221.10, and 1%
of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as fol

§ 17-119. The State shall be divided into * judicial circ
follows:

(1) The county of Norfolk shall constitute the first circuit.

(2) The counties of Nansemond and Southampton and the
Suffolk shall constitute the second circuit.

(3) The counties of Prince George, Sussex, Surry, Greensvi
Brunswick and the city of Hopewell shall constitute the third circt

(4) The counties of Dinwiddie, Nottoway, Amelia and Powhat
the city of Petersburg shall constitute the fourth circuit.

(5) The counties of Appomattox, Charlotte, Prince Edward
ingham and Cumberland shall constitute the fifth circuit.

(6) The counties of Bedford and Campbell and the city of Lyr
shall constitute the sixth circuit.

(7) The counties of Henry and Patrick and the city of Mart
shall constitute the seventh circuit.

(8) The counties of Madison, Greene, Fluvanna and Albema:
the city of Charlottesville shall constitute the eighth circuit.

(9) The counties of Culpeper, Orange, Louisa and Goochlan
constitute the ninth circuit.

(10) The county of Henrico and the city of Richmond shall co
the tenth circuit.

(11) The cities of Hampton and Newport News shall constit
eleventh circuit, provided that after July one, nineteen hundred an
two, the city of Hampton shall constitute the eleventh circuit.

(12) The counties of Richmond, Northumberland, Westmo
Lancaster and Essex shall constitute the twelfth circuit.

(13) The counties of Gloucester, Mathews, King and Queer
William and Middlesex shall constitute the thirteenth circuit.

(14) The counties of New Kent, Charles City, York and Jam
and the cities of Warwick and Williamsburg shall constitute the fou
circuit, provided that after July one, nineteen hundred and fifty-eigs
counties of New Kent, Charles City, York and James City and th
of Newport News and Williamsburg shall constitute the fourteenth
until July one, nineteen hundred and sixty, when the city of Newpor
will cease to be a part of the fourteenth circuit.

(15) The counties of King George, Stafford, Spotsylvania, C
and Hanover and the city of Fredericksburg shall constitute the fi
circuit.

(16) The counties of Prince William and Fairfax and the
Alexandria shall constitute the sixteenth circuit.

(17) The counties of Frederick, Clarke, Warren and Shen:
shall constitute the seventeenth circuit.

(18) The counties of Augusta, Highland and Rockbridge and t
of Buena Vista shall constitute the eighteenth circuit.

(19) The counties of Bath, Alleghany, Craig and Botetourt a
city of Clifton Forge shall constitute the nineteenth circuit.

(20) The county of Roanoke and the city of Roanoke shall cor
the twentieth circuit.

(21) The counties of Pulaski, Carroll, Wythe and Grayson sh:
stitute the twenty-first circuit.
(22) The counties of Bland, Tazewell and Giles shall constitute th
twenty-second circuit. .

(23) The counties of Washington and Smyth and the city of Bristc
shall constitute the twenty-third circuit.

24) * The counties of Lee and Scott shall constitute the twenty
fourth circuit.

(25) The counties of Rockingham and Page shall constitute th
twenty-fifth circuit.

(26) The counties of Rappahannock, Fauquier and Loudoun shall con
stitute the twenty-sixth circuit.

(27) * The counties of Buchanan, Dickenson and Russell shall con
stitute the twenty-seventh circuit. ;

(28) The counties of Princess Anne and Isle of Wight * shall consti
tute the twenty-eighth circuit.

(29) The counties of Amherst and Nelson and the city of Waynesbor«
shall constitute the twenty-ninth circuit.

(30) The counties of Franklin and Pittsylvania shall constitute the
thirtieth circuit.

(31) The counties of Accomack and Northampton shall constitute
the thirty-first circuit.

(32) The city of Norfolk shall constitute the thirty-second circuit.

(33) * The county of Wise shall constitute the thirty-third circuit.

(34) The counties of Halifax, Mecklenburg and Lunenburg shal
constitute the thirty-fourth circuit.

(85) The county of Arlington shall constitute the thirty-fifth circuit

(36) The counties of Floyd and Montgomery and the city of Radfore
shall constitute the thirty-sixth circuit.

(37) The county of Chesterfield shall constitute the thirty-seventh
circuit.

(388) On and after July one, nineteen hundred sixty, the city of Ports-
mouth shall constitute the thirty-eighth circuit. The judge of the twenty-
eighth judicial circuit residing in the city of Portsmouth on July one, nine-
teen hundred sixty, shall be the judge of the thirty-eighth judicial circutt
for the balance of the term for which elected as judge of the twenty-eighth
judicial circuit and shall forthwith relinquish his office as judge of the
twenty-eighth judicial circuit.

(39) On and after July 1, 1962, the city of Newport News shall con-
stitute the fortieth circuit.

Should the federal census of nineteen hundred and sixty or other
census provided for by law disclose that the counties of Hanover and
Caroline have a combined population in excess of forty thousand inhab-
itants then the senior judge of the fifteenth circuit shall enter an order
in the circuit courts of both of such counties setting out such fact. A
certified copy of such order shall be transmitted by the clerk of each such
court to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who shall file and preserve
the same in the records of his office and shall report to the Governor at
once the fact that such counties have a combined population in excess of
forty thousand, as disclosed by such census. The Governor, upon receiv-
ing such report, shall at once make proclamation of such fact, copies of
which proclamation shall be certified to the clerks of each of the courts
then constituting the fifteenth judicial circuit who shall endorse thereon
the date when received and record the same in the common-law order
o00ks of such courts.

After such proclamation has been recorded in the manner herein-
above provided, the counties of Hanover and Caroline shall constitute the
ifteenth judicial circuit, and the counties of King George, Stafford and
Spotsylvania and the city of Fredericksburg shall become and constitute a
new judicial circuit, designated and known as the thirty- * ninth circuit.
In such event, the Governor shall designate which of the judges of
the fifteenth judicial circuit shall continue to be the judge of that circuit,
and which of such judges shall be the judge of the new thirty- * ninth
judicial circuit composed of the counties of King George, Stafford and
Spotsylvania and the city of Fredericksburg.

§ 17-221.1. There shall be for the city of Newport News the follow-
ing courts:

(1) The Corporation Court of the City of Newport News.

(2) The Circuit Court of the City of Newport News *.

(3) The Circuit Court of the City of Newport News, Part Two.

(4) The * Corporation Court of the City of Newport News, Part Tiwo.

The provisions of this chapter relating to the * Corporation Court of
the city of Newport News, Part Two shall not be effective, nor shall such
court be created until July one, nineteen hundred and sixty.

§ 17-221.4. There shall be a clerk of the Corporation Court who shall
also be clerk of the Circuit Court, * who shall be the clerk of the Corpora-
tion Court of the city of Newport News on * the effective date of consoli-
dation. There shall be a clerk of the Circuit Court, Part Two, who shall be
the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the city of Warwick on the effective date
of * consolidation. Each clerk shall be elected by the qualified voters of the
city on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the last
year of the term for which he was elected or appointed for terms of eight
years to commence on the first day of February of the year following
their election. Each such clerk shall be paid a salary out of the treasury
of the city of Newport News of not less than eight thousand dollars nor
more than twelve thousand dollars per annum as the governing body of
the city of Newport News may determine. Such salary shall be in lieu of
the retention by any such clerk of any fees or emoluments received by
him in execution of his office.

Effective July one, nineteen hundred and sixty, the clerk of the
Circuit Court, Part Two, shall become and be clerk of the * Corporation
Court, Part Two, and shall continue to serve in such capacity for the
remainder of the term for which elected, and until his successor shall have
been chosen and qualified as provided by law. Provided, however, when-
ever in this chapter of the Code of Virginia, or in the charter of the city
of Newport News, reference is made to the Clerk of the Circuit Court,
Part Two, or to the Clerk of the Law and Chancery Court, such reference
shall be deemed to refer to the Clerk of the Corporation Court, Part Two,
on and after July one, nineteen hundred and sixty.

§ 17-221.7. Within the corporate limits of the city, the Circuit Court
of the city of Newport News, * shall have concurrent jurisdiction with
the Corporation Courts of the city, except as to matters of criminal
jurisdiction, the probate and recordation of wills and the appointment and
qualification of fiduciaries, save when it may be necessary to appoint a
fiduciary in the progress of a suit pending in such court.

Provided, however, whenever in this chapter of the Code of Virginia,
or in the charter of the city of Newport News, reference is made to the
Circuit Court, Part One, such reference shall be deemed to refer to the
Circuit Court of the City of Newport News.

§ 17-221.10. Within the corporate limits of the city, the Circuit
Court, Part Two, and the Corporation Court, Part Two, of the city of
Newport News shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the corporation
court of the city as to all matters, cases or proceedings of any nature.

The Circuit Court, Part Two, shall be abolished July one, nineteen
hundred and sixty. All * matters, cases and proceedings of any nature
then pending therein shall be transferred to and subject to the jurisdiction
of the * Corporation Court, Part Two. Provided, however, whenever i
this chapter of the Code of Virginia, or in the charter of the city of New-

port News, reference is made to the Circuit Court, Part Two, or to the

Law and Chancery Court, such reference shall be deemed to refer to the

Corporation Court, Part Two, on and after July one, nineteen hundred and

sixty, except that the jurisdiction of the Corporation Court, Part Two,

shall be concurrent with the Corporation Court of the City of Newport
ews.

§ 17-221.14. The judge or associate judge, as the case may be, of the
fourteenth judicial circuit, who shall reside within the corporate limits of
the city on July one, nineteen hundred and sixty, shall be judge of the *
Corporation Court, Part Two, for the balance of the term to which elected
as judge or associate judge of such circuit and shall forthwith relinquish
his office as judge or associate judge of the fourteenth judicial circuit. If
neither such judge nor associate judge shall reside within the corporate
limits of the city, such fact shall be certified at once by the clerk of the
* Corporation Court, Part Two, to the Governor who shall appoint a judge
in the manner prescribed by law.