Chap. 260.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 4 of chapter 182 of
the Code of 1873, as amended by an act approved February 17, 1874,
in reference to judgment liens.

Approved April 2, 1877.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section four of chapter one hundred and eighty-two of the
Code of eighteen hundred and seventy-three, as amended by
an act entitled an act to amend section four of chapter one
hundred and eighty-two of the Code of eighteen hundred and
seventy-three, with reference to judgment liens, approved
February seventeenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, be
further amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 4. The clerk of each county and corporation court, and
the clerk of the chancery court of Richmond city, shall keep
in his office, in a well-bound book, a judgment docket, in which
he shall docket, without delay, any judgment in this state,
when he shall be required to do so by any person interested,
on such person’s delivering to him an authenticated abstract of
it; and shall docket every judgment rendered in his court, and
every judgment, the abstract of which may be delivered to
-him by the clerk of the circuit court of his county or corpo-
ration; and the clerk of the circuit court of each county and
corporation in this state, except the clerks of the circuit and
corporation courts of Richmond city, shall, without delay,
deliver to the clerks of the county and corporation courts of
his county and corporation, an authenticated abstract of every
judgment rendered in his court or office. In such docket
there shall be stated, in separate columns, the date and amount
of the judgment, the date of docketiny it, the alternative
value of any specific property recovered by it, the amount
and date of any credits thereon, with the names, description
and residence of the partics, so far as they appear in his
office, or in such abstract, and when paid off or discharged,
in whole or in part, the time thereof. Every judgment shall,
as soon as it is docketed, be indexed by the clerk, in the name
of each defendant therein; and unless so indexed, it shall not
be regarded as dockcted; and the fact of the payment or dis-
charge of said judgment, either in whole or in part, shall be
entered as aforesaid by the clerk, upon the return of an exe-
cution showing such satisfaction, either in whole or in part,
or upon the certificate of the clerk from whose office such ex-
ecution issued, that the same has been satisfied, either in
whole or in part, or upon the direction of the judgment cre-
ditor or his attorney. And in all cases where payment or
satisfaction shall be made, which docs not appear by the re-
turn of an execution to the office of the clerk where the judg-
ment is docketed, it shall be the duty of the judgment cre-
ditor, either by himself, his agent or attorney, to cause such
payment or satisfaction, whether in whole or in part, to be
entered on the said judgment docket within ninety days after
the same is made; and for any failures so to do, such judg-
ment creditor shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars. And
for the additional service hereby imposed on the clerk, of ‘en-
tering satisfaction on his jadgment docket, he shall be enti-
ued to charge a fee of twenty cents, to be paid by the judg-
ment debtor. And if the clerk fail to do any thing required
of him by this section, he shall pay a fine of not less than
thirty nor more than three hundred dollars, to any person
who will prosecute therefor; or a defendant in any judgment,
or a grantor in any deed of trust or other incumbrance, may,
on motion, after ten days’ notice thereof to the plaintiff in
said judgment, or the beneficiary in such trust or incum-
brance, or if he be dead, his personal representative, apply
to the county or circuit court of the county in which any
jadgment or incumbrance is recorded, to have the same re-
leased or discharged. And upon proof that the judgment or
incumbrance has been paid or discharged, such court shall
order the same to be so entered and indexed in the book
wherein the said lien or incumbrance is recorded; notice to
the attorney of a non-resident party, in any such motion, shall
be sufficient: and provided further, that where any judgment
is obtained in this state, outside the said city of Richmond,
and the judgment creditor seeks to make the same a lien on
lands within said city, it shall be docketed within the time
prescribed by law, in the chancery court of the city of Rich-
mond, and not in the said hustings court; and no judgment
shall be docketed in said court unless it be so directed by the
judgment creditor or his attorney: provided further, that
whenever a judgment is recovered in favor of the common-
wealth against officers who have made default, or their sure-
ties, the same.shall be docketed in all the counties wherein
the said principal or bis sureties reside.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.