Chap. 74.—An ACT to amend section 2498 of the code of Virginia, as here-
tofore amended in relation to the release and satisfaction of liens.

eo. oo. ; "Approved Jama ry 17, 1900.

“1. Be it pnacted by. the general. ‘areomble of Virginia, That section
arent: four - yundrud sand -nincety-eight of the code of Virginia, as
amended and re-enacted hy an act ‘approved “March third, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-cicht, entitked an act to amend and re- -enact section
twenty-four hundred and ninety-eight of the code of Virginia, as
amended and re-enacted by an act approved February twenty-seventh,
2ighteen hundred and ninety-four, as amended and re-enacted by an
act approved February twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six,
is amended and re-enacted by an act approved February twenty-eighth,
-ighteen hundred and ninety-eight, be amended and re-enacted so as to
‘ead as follows:
$ 2498. When payment or satisfaction is made of a debt secured by
mortgage, deed of trust, vendor’s or mechanic’s lien, it shall be the duty
of such hen creditor, unless he shall have delivered a proper release
deed, to cause such payment or satisfaction to be entered on the margin
of the page in the book where such incumbrance is recorded; and for
any failure to do so, after five davs’ notice, if the note, bond, or other
evidence of debt secured by such lien shall be left with the lien creditor,
or with the clerk in whose office such incumbrance is recorded, until the
lien is released, as provided by this section, he shall forfeit twenty dollars.
Such entry of payment or satisfaction shall be signed by the creditor or
his duly authorized agent, attorney, or attorney in fact, and the note,
bond, or other evidence of debt secured by such lien, duly cancelled, shall
be produced before the clerk in whose office such incumbrance is re-
corded, or an affidavit shall be filed by the said creditor or his duly
authorized agent or attorney, or attorney in fact, with such clerk, to the
clfect that the debt therein secured and intended to be released or dis-
charged has been paid to such creditor, his agent, attorney, or attorney
in fact, who was, when the said debt was 80 satisfied, entitled and
authorized to receive the same, and that such note, bond, or other
evidence of debt has been cancelled and delivered to the person by
whom it was paid, or has been lost or destroyed and cannot be produced
as herein required: and when so signed and the signature thereto attested
by such clerk, with a certificate that said note, bond, or other evidence
of debt duly cancelled was produced before such clerk, or that the affi-
davit hereinbefore required has been duly filed with such clerk, the
same shall operate as a release of the incumbrance, as to which such
payment or satisfaction is entered, as fully and effectually as if the said
marginal entry were a formal deed of release duly executed and recorded.
Any person who owns or has any interest in real estate on which such
incumbrance exists may, after twenty days’ notice thereof to the person
entitled to such incumbrance, apply to the county or corporation court
of the county or corporation in whose clerk’s office such incumbrance
is recorded, or to the chancery court of the city of Richmond if it be
in the clerk’s office of the said court, to have the same released or dis-
charged, and upon proof that it has been paid or discharged, or upon
its appearing to the court that more than twenty years have elapsed
since the maturity of the lien or incumbrance, raising a presumption of
payment, and which is not rebutted at the hearing, such court shall
order the same to be entered by the clerk on the margin of the page in
the book wherein the incumbrance is recorded, which entry, when
so made, shall operate as a release of such incumbrance; and the clerk’s
fee for so releasing on the margin of the page of the book wherein the
incumbrance or lien is recorded shall be twenty-five cents. All releases
heretofore made by any court under this section upon such presumption
of payment so arising and not rebutted, shall after the lapse of one year
from the passage of this act, if no objection be made during that time
be validated. A release of a deed of trust or a reconveyance of the
property embraced therein, may in all cases be made to the original
grantor, whether living or dead, and any release or reconveyance hereto-
fore or hereafter so made shall enure both in law and in equity to the
successors In title of such grantor.

2. All acts and parts of acts, so far as they are in conflict with this
act, are hereby repealed.

3. This act shall be in force from its passage.