CHAP. 384.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 4 of chapter 182
of the Code as amended by an act approved February 17, 1874, as
amended by an act approved April 2, 1877, as amended by an act
approved February 22, 1878, as amended by an act approved March
9, 1880, in relation to judgment liens.

Approved March 10, 15884.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section four of chapter one hundred and eighty-two of the
Code of Virginia, edition of cighteen hundred and seventy-
three, as amended by an act approved February seventeenth,
eighteen hundred and seventy-four, as amended by an act
approved April second, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven,
as amended by an act approved February twenty-second,
eightcen hundred and seventy-cight, as amended by an act
approved March ninth, eighteen hundred and eighty, be and
the same is hereby 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 be shall docket without delay, any judgment in the
state when he shall be required so to do by any person in-
terested, on such person 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 corporation; and the clerk of the circuit court of
each county or corporation in the state, shall without delay,
deliver to the clerks of the county or corporation courts of
his county or corporation, an authenticated abstract of every
judgment rendered in his court or office, except that orders,
judgments, and decrees de bonis testatoris, and orders, judg-
ments, and decrees against fiduciaries for w hich such fiduci-
ary is not personally liable, and against commissioners and
receivers of any court, and except also that orders, judg-
ments, and decrees against any bank or incorporated com-
pany doing a banking business for money deposited under

the order of any court, or by a commissioner or receiver of
any court, or subject to the order of any court, shall not be
docketed nor abstracts thereof delivered by the clerk of the
circuit court to the clerk of the county or corporation court,
unless required by the plaintiff in such order, judgment, or
decree, or some person interested therein, to be so certified
and docketed, and then only at the cost of such plaintiff or
person so interested. In such docket there shall be stated, in
Keparate columns, the date and amount of the judgment, the
date of docketing it, the alternative value of any specific
property recorded. by it, the amount and dates of any credits
thereon, with the names, description, and residence of the
parties, so tar as they appear in his office or in such
abstract, and when paid off or discharged, in whole or in
part, the time thereof. Hvery judgment shall, as soon as
it is docketed, be indexed by the clerk in the name of each
defendant therein, and unless so indexed, shall not be re-
garded as docketed as to any defendant in ‘whose name it is
not indexed, and the fact of the payment or discharge of said
judgment, either in whole or in part, shall be entered as
aforesaid by the clerks upon the return of any execution
showing such satisfaction, either in whole or in part, or upon
the certificate of the clerk from whose office such execution
is issued, that the sume bas been satisfied, either in whole or
in part, or upon the discretion of the judgment creditor or
his attorney; and the clerk of the circuit court of each county
or corporation in the state shall, without delay, certify to the
clerks of the county or corporation courts of his county or
corporation, that any judgment rendered in his court or office
has been satisfied, in whole or in part, upon the return of an
execution issued thereupon, showing such satisfaction.

Whenever it appears from the said return that such satisfac-
tion was obtained before the return day of the said execu-
tion, or was obtained subsequent to a levy made thereon be-
fore such return day ; and for this service the clerk shall be
entitled to charge a fee of twenty cents, to be paid by the judg-
ment debtor. And in all cases where payment or satisfaction
shall be made, which does not appear by the return of an ex-
ecution to the office of the clerk where the judgment is dock-
eted, and is not hereinbefore provided for, or where payment
or satisfaction shall be made in whole or in part of a debt
secured by deed of trust or vendor’s lien, it shall be the duty
of the judgment or lien creditor, either by himself, his agent,
or attorney, to cause such payment or satisfaction, whether
in whole or in part, to be entered on said judgment docket
or on the margin of the page in the book where such incum-
brance is recorded, within ninety days after the same is made,
and for any failure so to do, such judgment or lien creditor
shall be liable to a fine of twenty dollars; and for the addi-
tional service hereby imposed on the clerk, of entering satis-
faction on his judgment docket, he shall be entitled to
charge a fee of twenty cents, to be paid by the judgment
debtor; and if any clerk fail to do what is required of
him by this section, he shall pay a fine of not less than
thirty nor more than three hundred dollars to any per-
son who will prosecute therefor; or a defendant in any
judgment or a grantor in any deed of trust or other incum-

rance, his heirs, or personal representatives, may, on motion,
after ten days’ notice thereof, to the plaintiff in said judg-
ment, or his axssignee, or the beneficiary in such trust or in-
cumbrance, or his assignee, or, if he be dead, his personal
representative, apply to the county or circuit court of the
county, or the corporation or circuit court of each city or
town in which any incumbrance is recorded, or to the court
in which any judgment was rendered, to have the same
released or discharged ; and upon proof that the judgment or
incumbrance has been paid or discharged, such court shall
order the same to be entered on the margin of the page in
the book wherein the said judgment was entered or incum-
brance is recorded, and a certificate of such order to be made
to the clerk of the court in which such judgment is by this
section required to be docketed, or in which such incum-
brance is recorded ; and the clerk of such court, immediately
upon the receipt of such certificate, shall enter the same on
the margin of the page where the judgment is docketed, or
the incumbrance recorded. Notice to the attorney of a non-
resident party in such motion shall be sufficient: and _pro-
vided further, that where any judgment is obtained in this
state outside of the city of Richmond, and the judgment
creditor seeks to make th: same a lien on lands within said
city, it shall be dockete.l within the time prescribed by law
in the chancery court of the city of Richmond, and not in the
hustings court, and no judgment shall be docketed in said
court unless it bo so directed by the judgment creditor or
his attorney: provided further, that whenever a judzment is
recovered in favor of the commonwealth against cilicers who
have made default, or their sureties, the same shall be
docketed in all the counties wherein the said principal or his
sureties reside.

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