Chap. 214.—An ACT Providing for the Re-assessment of the Lands
throughout the Commonwealth.

Approved July 9, 1870.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That it shall be
the duty of the several county and corporation courts, and of
the hustings court of the city of Richmond, at their July or
August terms, in the year one thousand eight hundred and
seventy, and at their June or July terms in every fifth year
thereafter, to appoint proper persons to assess the value of all
lands and lots, together with the improvements thereon, with-
in their respective counties and corporations: provided, that
there shall be but one assessor for each corporation except
the city of Richmond, wherein there shall be three, and for
each county as many as there are commissioners of the reve-
nue for the same; and no person shall be appointed assessor
for any county or corporation who is not a resident and free-
holder in the same. In those counties in which two or more
assessors are to be appointed, the court shall appoint one for
each district to which a commissioner is assigned; but the
said districts shall be re-arranged, by the said court, by town-
ship lines, so that no part of atownship shall be in more than
one district.

2. Each assessor, before entering upon the ‘duties of his
office, shall in open court, execute a bond, with security
deemed good by the court in the penalty of five thousand
dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties
of his office; and shall moreover take an oath in open court
that he will faithfully and impartially, and to the best of his
skill and understanding, execute all the duties of his office
according to law.

3. The register of the land office, as soon as possible after
the passage of this act, shall forward to the clerk of each
county and corporation court, a list of all grants of land with-
in his county or corporation, issued between the thirty-first
day of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, and the
time of making out such list; and it shall be the duty of the
clerk, without unnecessary delay, to deliver to the assessor of
such county or corporation the said list of grants, with a cop
of the land book for his county or corporation, last returned,
and a list of the conveyances recorded since the said book was
made out. In any county in which there shall be more asses-
sors than one, the clerk shall furnish to each of them a copy
of the list of grants and of the land book, and also a list of
conveyances as aforesaid, for the district for which he is ap-
pointed. For the services aforesaid, the clerk shall receive
such compensation as the court of his county or corporation
may think proper to allow; which shall be embraced in and
paid out of the first corporation or county levy made after
the services shall have been rendered. And any clerk who
shall fail to perform any duty hereby enjoined upon him, shall
be fined, for the use of the literary fund, a sum not exceed-
ing one hundred dollars, at the discretion of the jury.

4. The said assessors shall, immediately after their appoint-
ment, proceed to examine all the lands and lots, with the im-
provements thereon, within their respective counties, districts,
and corporations; and shall, upon such examination, ascertain
and assess the cash value thereof. And if at any time the
court shall be satisfied that any assessor appointed under this
act will not, or that from any cause he cannot, perform the du-
ties devolved on him within the time prescribed, it may wholly
supersede him, and appoint another in his place, or appoint
one or more assistants to aid him in his duties, as it shall deem
most expedient; but before any person thus appointed, shall
enter upon the duties of his office, he shall take the oath and
execute the bond, with such penalty as the court shall fix, pre-
scribed in the second section: provided, however, that the
cash value of the lands, lots, and improvements thereon, shall
be fixed by first ascertaining the value, upon the usual credits,
in the neighborhood and rebating legal interest, when interest
is not usually allowed on such credits or deferred payments.

o. Any person feeling himself aggrieved by the assessment
of his lands or lots, made under the provisions of this act,
may, upon giving notice to the assessor, apply to the court by
which the assessor was appointed, at the first, second, or third
term after such assessment shall be made, and not after, to
have the assessments of his lands or lots corrected; which
notice shall be in writing, and shall have appended thereto an
affidavit that, in the opinion of the affiant, the assessment of
his lands or lots is above the true value thereof; which aftida-
vit may be sworn to by the owner or his duly authorized
agent. In all such applications, it shall be the duty of the at-
torney for the commonwealth in such court to attend to the
interest of the commonwealth. And if the court shall be sat-
isfied that the assessment is too high, it shall reduce the same
to what is, in its opinion, the true value of such lands or lots;
but if it shall be of opinion that the assessment is too low,
then it shall increase it in like manner. And such application
shall have precedence over all other causes pending in said
court. In any case in which the owner of lands or lots, or his
agent, shall be dissatisfied with the value assessed, because it
is too low, the assessor shall adopt the estimate of the owner
or his agent; but in cases of appeal from the decision to court,
as herein provided for, costs shall not be taxed for or against
the appellant or the commonwealth.

6. As soon as the assessors shall have completed the assess-
ment in their respective counties, districts, or corporations,
and shall have conformed the same in all controverted cases to
the action of the court, the said assessor shall make out two
copies of his assessment in the form in which the land books
are now made out, and shall certify on oath that no lots or
lands are omitted, and that there are no errors on its face;
and of these copies, so certified, one shall be filed and pre-
served in the clerk’s office of the county or corporation, and
the other forwarded by mail, or other safe conveyance, to the
auditor of public accounts, at Richmond, on or before the first
day of December in the year in which such assessment is
made. Each assessor who shall fail to comply with any requi-
sition of this section, shall forfeit all right to compensation for
his services. It shall be the duty of the auditor of public ac-
counts, as soon as practicable after the passage of this act, to
pre are proper forms of return, 80 arranged as to show the

ands and lots in each township separately, with blanks, to be
filled up by the assessors, and instructions, and cause the same
to be printed, and forward a sufficient number of copies, for
the use of the assessors, to the clerks of the courts ot the seve-
ral counties and corporations. |

7. Each assessor and assistant assessor shall receive the sum
of three dollars for each day he shall be necessarily employed
in the execution of the duties of his office. Their accounts
shall be made out and verified, and shall be paid out of any
money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

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