Chap. 125.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections twenty-four and
twenty-five of chapter one hundred and eighty, Code of eighteen hun-
dred and seventy-three, with reference to the collection of officers’ fees.

Approved March 15, 1876.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
sections twenty-four and twenty-five, of chapter one hundred
and eighty of the Code of Virginia, edition of eighteen hun-
dred and seventy-three, be amended and re-enacted so as to
read as follows: .

§ 24. Any officer mentioned in this chapter, or personal
representative of a deceased clerk, may, after the first day of
January, and before the first day of August, in any year,
deliver fee bills, duly signed, to any sheriff, treasurer, or col-
lector of the public taxes, who shall receive and endeavor to
collect the same. A sheriff, treasurer, or collector of public
taxes, may distrain therefor, or for any bills due himself, such
property of the person to whom the fee bills are charged as
might be levied on under a writ of fieri facias against him,
except as hereinafter mentioned; and the seventh, eighth,
and ninth sections of ‘the thirty-seventh chapter shall apply
to such fee bills in like manner as to taxes; and whenever in
any county there shall be no sheriff, treasurer, or collector of
the public taxes, any constable shall be authorized, and em-
powered, and it shall be his duty, when required, to collect

y distress, if necessary, within his district, the fees of all
officers mentioned in this chapter.

§ 25. Every sheriff, treasurer, collector, or constable to
whom such fee bills are so delivered, shall, on or before the
first day of June in the year next after such delivery, account
therefor with the officer or personal representative entitled
thereto, by returning such as he may not have collected, with
an endorsement thereon, that the person charged with the
fees has no estate in his county or corporation out of which
the same could be made, and by paying to such officer or
representative the amount of all not so returned, deducting
a commission for himself of ten per centum on such amount.
If he fail so to do, judgment may be obtained on motion
against said sheriff, treasurer, or collector, or constable, and
his sureties, and his and their personal representatives, or
against any deputy who may have signed the receipt tor said
fees, or his personal representative, for the amount with
which such sheriff, treasurer, collector or deputy, or consta-
ble is chargeable, and damages thereon, not exceeding fifteen
per centum per annum, from the said first day of June till
payment. Such judgments may be on motion in the circuit,
county, or corporation court of the county or corporation in
which said sheriff, treasurer, collector or constable resides ;
and if the fees be due to a clerk of the court of appeals, it
may be in any circuit, county, or corporation court where
such court of appeals is held. On such motion, any receipt
for fees mentioned in the notice, as signed by any person,
shall be deemed to be his signature, unless an affidavit be:
filed denying it. The clerk of the circuit, chancery, and
hustings courts of the city of Richmond, respectively, and
the clerks of the circuit and corporation courts of every other
city in this state, or their personal representatives, may, at
any time, deliver the fee bills of the said clerks, duly signed,.
to the high constable of any of such cities, for collection. And
the said constable, who shall have all the powers conferred
by the twenty-fourth section of this chapter upon the sheriff,
treasurer, or collector of taxes, shall account therefor within
six months after such delivery, in the manner, and be subject
to the penalties for a failure so to atcount, prescribed in this
section. The said clerks shall have the same remedies against
the said constable, which are provided in this section for
clerks of other circuit courts—such remedies to be prosecuted
in the circuit or hustings court of Richmond city, or in the
circuit or corporation courts of any other city in this state,
as the case may require.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.