Chap. 141.—An ACT to Amend and Re-enact the First Section of Chap-
ter 120 of the Code of Virginia, edition of 1860, as Amended and Re-
enacted by the Act approved January 14th, 1873, in relation to
Notaries Public.

Approved March 8, 1873.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That section one
of chapter one hundred and twenty of the Code (edition of
eighteen hundred and sixty), as amended and re-enacted by
the act approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and
seventy-three, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as fol-
lows :

§ 1. The governor shall appoint in and for the separate
counties and corporations as many notaries public as to him
shall seem proper, not exceeding one for every five hundred of
population, who shall hold office for the term of four years,
and who shall exercise the powers and functions of conserva-
tors of the peace. And he may appoint the same person to
serve for two or more counties or corporations, or for one
county and corporation. Every notary public shall give bond
in the court of each county or corporation for which he is ap-
pointed, within four months from the date of his commission,
in a penalty of not less than five hundred dollars, and the clerk
of said court shall immediately forward a certified copy of
said bond to the secretary of the commonwealth. The removal
of a notary from the county or corporation in which he resided
when appointed, unless such removal be into another county
or corporation for which he may have been also appointed,
shall be construed as a vacation of his office; and the clerk of
said county or corporation shall at once inform the governor
of the fact, as well as of all deaths of notaries that may occur.
All notaries now in commission, who shall execute bonds in
the manner and penalty herein required, within four months
from the date of this act, and only such, shall continue to act
as notaries, and their commissions shall run four years from
the passage of this act.

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