Chap. 318.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 1, 5, and ©
chapter 32 of the Code of 1873, and to repeal sections 9, 10, 11. 12,1
14, 15, and 16 of said chapter, in Relation to the Assessment of &
Lands of the Commonwealth.

Approved March 81, 1875,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That sections one, f
and six of chapter thirly-two of the Code of eighteen hundred an
seventy-three, be amended dnd re-enacted so as to read as follow:

21. It shall be the duty of the several county and corporatic
courts, and of the hustings court of the city of Richmond, at the
Juneand July terms, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-i
and every fifth year thereafter, to appoint proper persons to asse
the cash value of all lands and lots, together with the improvement
thereon, within their respective counties and corporations: prov.
ded, that there shall be but one assessor for each corporation, ex
cept the city of Richmond, where there shall be three, and for eae:
county as many as there are commissioners of the revenue for th
same. And no person shall be appointed assessor for any count
or corporation, who is nota resident or a freeholder in the same
In those counties in which two or morc assessors are to be appointed
the court shall appoint one for each district to which a commis
sioner of the revenue shall be assigned.

¢ 5. As soon as the assessors shall have completed the assessment:
in their respectivé counties, districts, or corporations, they shall

make out two copies of the assessment, in the form in which the land
books are now made out, and shall certify, on oath, that no lots at
lands are omitted, and that there are no,errors on its face. and of
those copies so certified, one shall be filed and preserved im 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 of December in the year in which
the assessment is made: provided, that for good cause shown, the
judges of the county and‘corporation courts of this commonwealth
may extend the time of making the returns of said assessment te
the first of January next succeeding. Each assessor who shall fail
to comply with any requisition of this section, shall forfeit all right
to compensation for his services. It shall be the duty of the apdi.
tor of public accounts, as soon as practicable after the passage of
this act, to prepare proper forms of returns so arranged as to show
the lands and lots in each commissioner of the revenue's district
separately, with blanks to be filled up by the assessors, and cause
the same, with proper instructions, to be printed, and forward a
sufficient number of copies for the use of the assessors to the clerks
of the courts of the several counties and corporations.

¢6. 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 asses-
sor was appointed, at the first, second or third ‘term after such as-
sessment 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 affidavit may be sworn to by the owner or his duly
authorized agent. In all such applications it shall be the duty of
the attorney for the commonwealth in such court to attend to ‘the
interest of the commonwealth. And if the court shall be satisfied
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
itin 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 ar 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.

2. Sections nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen
and sixteen of chapter thirty-two of the Code of eighteen hundred
and seventy-three, are hereby repealed.

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