CHAP. 666.—An ACT for the protection of sheep in the county of
enrico.

Approved March 8, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That it shall be the duty of the commissioners of the rev-
enue for Henrico county to take annually, at the time of
listing the taxable property therein, a list of all dogs
(male and female), with the name of the owner or person
in whose possession the same are found, upon the oath or
affirmation of the owner, or housekeeper, or head of the
family with whom or on whose lot or plantation any dog
or dogs may be found, as to the number of dogs such per-
son may own, or have, or as may be upon his or her lot, or
plantation, or premises, whether owned by him or her or
not, and shall return such list of dogs to the clerk’s office
of said county at the same time when he returns his list
of taxable property, under the like fines, penalties and for-
feitures as are now incurred by him for neglect of any
similar duties under existing laws as to his duties in list-
ing and returning lists of taxable property.

2. That every dog kept or staying about any house shall
be deemed sufficient evidence of ownership to authorize the
assessor to return the person inhabiting said house as the
owner of such dog; and every dog not returned, or if re-
turned and the tax be not paid thereon, shall be deemed
to have no owner, and may be lawfully killed by any per-
son seeing him run at large.

3. Upon complaint of any person to a justice of the
peace that there is a dog that is not listed staying upon
the premises of any person, the justice shall at once sum-
mon such person and the commissioner of the revenue
whose duty it was to list him, to appear before him and
give evidence as to the listing and ownership of such dog;
and if it appear that the person charged with the owner-
ship of such dog is the owner thereof, and has failed to
list the same as required by this act, the commissioner of
the revenue shall thereupon list said dog; and if the
owner fail to pay the tax thereon and the costs hereby in-
curred within ten days thereafter, he shall be fined the
sum of one dollar and costs, one-half of said fine to go to
the informer; and in addition thereto the justice may,
upon good cause shown, order a constable to kill said dog.
The fees allowed under this section shall be those now
allowed by law, and any constable killing a dog under this
provision shall be entitled to receive a fee of fifty cents,
to be paid by the owner of said dog.

4. That when the commissioner of the revenue shall have
ascertained the number of dogs, they shall levy and cause
to be collected as a license tax for keeping dogs the sum
of seventy-five cents for each dog and the sum of one dollar
for each bitch so assessed; and the said sums shall! be
collected and accounted for by the treasurer of said county
as county levies are by law directed to be collected and
accounted for; and the said treasurer shall keep a sepa-
rate account of money arising from the said tax on dogs,
and pay the same, after deducting commissions and delin-
quents, to a commissioner hereafter authorized in this
act; and the said money shall be, and is hereby, appro-
priated for a fund for remunerating said county for any
loss they may sustain by sheep being destroyed by a dog
or dogs, and the residue, if any, to be divided among the
magisterial districts of said county for public schools and
county road purposes.

5. That when any inhabitant of the aforesaid county
shall have any sheep killed by a dog or dogs, he or she
may apply to the appraisers provided for by this act, and
they, or any two of them, are hereby authorized and re-
quired to view and ascertain the damages sustained by
the owners of such sheep killed as aforesaid; and when
they shall have ascertained the legality of the claim and
the damages so sustained, they, or any two of them, shall
certify the same, under their hands and seals, to said
commissioner, who shall receive the said certificate and
give a receipt for the same, and shall have it filed in his
office; and at the close of each year he shall make an es-
timate of such certificates as may have been presented to
him, and also the amount of all such tax of the same
year; and if, upon such estimate, it shall appear that the
amount of said tax will be insufficient to discharge the
whole amount of damages, he shall apportion the amount
and pay to each sufferer in proportion to the loss sustained.
If, after settling the yearly account as aforesaid, there
shall be an overplus, such overplus shall be divided be-
tween the magisterial districts of said county, in propor-
tion to the funds originally received from each, for the
support of public schools and county road purposes.

6. That it shall be the duty of the justices of the peace
in said county, upon the application of the owners (or
their agents) of such sheep which have been killed by
dogs since the passage of this act, to issue summons to
three discreet freeholders in the neighborhood to appear
forthwith on the premises where such sheep may be, and,
being first duly qualified, they, or any two of them, shall
proceed to ascertain and appraise the true value of said
sheep, and return a statement of the same, under their
hands and seals, to the owner.

7. That the board of supervisors of said county shall
appoint a discreet person commissioner under this act,
whose duty it shall be to receive and receipt for all certi-
ficates for damages under this act, file the same in his
office, receive from the treasurer all moneys collected un-
der this act, and apportion the funds ratably among the
owners of said certificates, and pay the same within ten
days after he shall have settled his account, which settle-
nent shall be made once in each year. Before entering
upon the performance of his duties under this act he shall
give bond and security in the penalty of two thousand

g¢aQnnd
dollars, subject to the approval of the county court, for
the faithful discharge of his duties.

8. That the commissioner of the revenue and treasurer
shall receive a like commission for their services in thie
behalf as is now allowed by law for similar services, and
the commissioner shall receive a commission of five per
centum on all money paid out by him.

9. This act shall not affect sections twenty-one hundred
and ninety-two and twenty-one hundred and ninety-three
of the code of Virginia.

10. That it shall be the duty of the judge of the county
court of said county, upon application in writing of fifty
freeholders of said county, to submit to the qualified vo-
ters of said county, at such time as he may deem best, the
question of the adoption or rejection of this law. The
officers conducting the next succeeding election shall con-
duct the election hereby provided for, and shall receive
the ballots cast in such election, which ballot shall be re-
spectively as follows: ‘For the law for the protection of
sheep in the county of Henrico; ” “Against the law for
the protection of sheep in the county of Henrico.”

11. The manner of receiving and canvassing the ballots
cast at said election for or against said law and making
abstracts and returns of the result thereof shall conform
in all respects to the regulations prescribed by the general
election laws of this state.

12. The persons conducting said elections at the various
places of voting shall certify the number of votes cast
against the law to the clerk of the county court of the
aforesaid county, and if it shall appear from the returns
and abstracts of votes so returned that a majority of the
qualified voters voting are in favor of the law, the clerk
shall certify the same to the county court at its next suc-
ceeding term after its adoption, and it shall thereupon be
the duty of the judge of said court to declare the said law
in force.

13. This law shall be in force one month from the time
it is declared by the judge of the county court to have been
adopted by the votes of said county.