Chap. 819.—An ACT to allow the voters of Brown Hill magisterial district
in Franklin county to vote upon the question of the no-fence law, and to
fix the rights of all parties concerned, should the same be adopted.

Approved March 6, 1900.

Whereas the voters of Brown Hill magisterial district in the county
of Franklin have petitioned to be allowed to vote upon the question of
the no-fence law in said district; and

Whereas it is proper that opportunity should be extended to them
for determining this question by their own votes; therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That it shall
be the duty of the county court for the county of Franklin, or the
judge thereof, in vacation, not later than March twenty-ninth, nineteen
hundred, to submit to the qualified voters of said district the question
whether there shall or shall not be a fence law in said district said elec-
tion to be held and conducted at the time fixed by the said court or
Judge, under the existing election laws of the state provided for holding
elections when no party nominations are made. A writ of election
shall be issued to the sheriff of said county and delivered to said sheriff
at least twenty days before the time designated for holding said election
and said sheriff shall give notice of the time of holding said election
by posting printed hand bills at the voting places in the above district
and at such other public places in said district as the sheriff may deem
necessary to give publicity thereto.

Ballots shall be provided upon which shall be printed or written fence
Jaw and no-fence law. If the voter desires to vote for the fence law he
shall erase no-fence law, written or printed on the ballots by running
a mark with a pen or pencil through two-thirds of the words no-fencv
law; if he desires to vote for the no-fence law, he shall in like manner
run a line with pen or pencil through two-thirds of the words fence law.
The vote so taken shall be counted, certified, and returned to the office
of the clerk of the county court for said county, and the commissioners
of election shall meet on the second day after the said election at the
clerk’s office and ascertain the result of said election in the manner pre-
scribed by law, and the result so ascertained, shall be certified to the
county court on the first dav of the next term thereof; and the said
court shall declare the result of the election by an order entered in the
order book. If it shall appear from these returns that a majority of
the voters in said precincts is in favor of a no-fence law then it shall
not be lawful, after July first, nineteen hundred, for the owner of anv
horse, mule, sheep, goat, hog, or cattle of any description to run at
large beyond the boundaries of his own land.

If anv of the animals above enumerated, the property of anv citizen
of said district after the date last above given is found at large upon the
lands of any other citizen in said district then the owner of or manager
of said animals shall be liable for all damage, or injury done by said
animals to the owner or owners of said lands, or crops upon which thev
trespass, and shall be subject to the provisions of section two thou-
sand and twenty-two of the code of Virginia. If in the event anv of
the above animals come from bevond the limits of the above district and
trespass on the lands within said district the owner or manager of the
lands on which the animals are found, shall have the right to put the
same up in some convenient place. He shall thereupon notify the owner
of said animals and unless said owner forthwith sends for the same he
shall be liable to the person having them in eustodv in the sum of one
dollar ter dav from the time they. were first taken up ‘until thev. are
finally delivered to the owner or his‘agent. In the event this penalty is
incurred the partv having the stock is custody shall have the richt to
hold them until the full amount of the penaltv is paid. While the
stock are in custodv the person holding them shall provide them at his
expense with food and water.

Tf the animals are delivered to the owner or his agent he shall
remove them bevond the limits of the districts included in this act.
and if they thereafter return to the premises upon which thev have once
been found, the owner or manager shall be liable just as if thev were
the property of some resident of the district. But these provisions
shall not apply to stock coming into said district from beyond the
limits of the county of Franklin; they shall be treated like stock
belonging to residents of the district and the owners of or managers
of this stock shall be subjected to all the provisions of this act applying
to said residents whose stock is found trespassing within the boundary
lines of said district upon the lands of other residents.

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