Chap. 549.—An ACT to amend and reenact sections 3975, 3976, 3977, and 3978
of the Code of Virginia, as heretofore amended.

Approved January 2, 1904.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
thirty-nine hundred and seventy-five, thirty-nine hundred and seventy-
six, thirty-nine hundred and seventy-seven, and thirty-nine hundred and
seventy-eight of the Code of Virginia, as heretofore amended, be amended
and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 3975. Grand juries; regular and special terms; when.—There shall
be a regular grand jury at two terms in each year of the circuit courts o/
the counties and of the corporation or hustings court of the corpora-
tions, to be designated by the judges of said courts, respectively, and
special grand juries whenever ordered, as hereinafter provided.

§ 3976. When and how grand jurors to be selected by judges of circu:
courts of counties and corporation or hustings courts of cities; lists to te
delivered to clerk; when and how jurors summoned.—The judges of the
said courts shall annually, in the month of June, July, or August, selec:
from the male citizens of each county of their respective circuits and in
their several cities forty-eight persons twenty-one years of age and up-
wards, of honesty, intelligence, and good demeanor, and suitable in all
respects to serve as grand jurors, who shall be the grand jurors for the
county or city from which they are selected for twelve months next ther-
after. Such jurors shall be selected in each county from the several
magisterial districts of the county and from the several wards of the
cities in proportion to the population thereof, and the judge making the
selection shall at once furnish a list of those selected to the clerk of hi:
court in each county of his circuit or in his city. The clerk, not more
than twenty days before the commencement of each term of his court
at which a regular grand jury is required, shall issue a venire facias to
the sheriff of his county or sergeant of his city, commanding him to
summon twelve of the persons selected as aforesaid, to be named in the
writ, to appear on the first day of the court to serve as grand jurors. No
such person shall be required to appear more than once until all the
others have been summoned once, nor more than twice until the others
have been twice summoned, and so on: provided, that no male citizen over
sixty years of age shall be compelled to serve as a grand juror. The
clerk, in issuing the venire facias, shall apportion the grand jurors, a$
nearly as may be, ratably among the magisterial districts or wards: pro-
vided, that the circuit court of James City county, or the judge thereof
in vacation, shall select the grand jurors for such court from said county
and the city of Williamsburg in such proportion from each as he may
think proper.

§ 3977. Who are qualified; number of grand jury, regular and spe
cial—aA regular grand jury shall consist of not less than nine nor more
than twelve persons, and a special grand jury of not less than six nor
more than nine persons. Hach grand juror shall be a citizen of this
State, twenty-one years of age, and’ shall have been a resident of this
State two years, and of the county or corporation in which the court is
to be held one year, and in other respects a qualified juror, and not a
constable, ordinary keeper, overseer of a road, and not the owner or
occupier of a grist-mill, and, when the grand juror is for a circuit court
of a county, not an inhabitant of a city.

§ 3978. When special grand jury may be ordered; by whom and how.
A special grand jury may be ordered at any time by a circuit court of a
county, corporation, or hustings court of a corporation, or the judge
thereof in vacation, the jurors to be summoned from a list furnished by
the judge; and where a grand jury, regular or special, has been dis-
charged, the court, during the same term, may impanel another grand
jury, which may be a special grand jury.
2. This act shall be in force on and after the first day of February,
nineteen hundred and four.