Chap. 105.—An ACT to submit to the qualified voters of Northampton
county, the question of abolishing the present fence law in said county.

Approved November 25, 1884.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be the duty of the judge of the county court of
Northampton county, upon the petition in writing of twenty-
five freeholders of said county, which petition may be pre-
sented either in term time or vacation, to order the judges of
election in said county, for the different voting places in said
county, to open a poll at the different voting precincts, to take
the sense of the qualified voters of said county, whether they
will continue or repeal the present fence laws of the county.
The judges of election will prepare two ballot-boxes for each
voting precinct, in one of which shall be deposited the bal-
lots of the freeholders, and in the other the ballots of the
non-freeholders, of the then qualified voters; and the said
judges of election shall appoint writers to record the votes,
said judges and writers to have the same compensation as in
other elections. The said ballots shall be respectively as fol-
lows: “For the repeal of the fence law;” “ Against the repeal
of the fence law:” provided that notice of the time and place
of voting upon said question shall be given by the judge
of the county court by posting the same at each one of the
voting places in said county, at least twenty days prior to
said election. The said election shall be ordered by the said
judge to be held as aforesaid, within thirty days from the
time the said petition shall bave been presented to him. The
polls taken under this act shall be canvassed, certified, and
returned as in other elections, so far as the same is applicable,
except that the certificate of the judges of election shall be
as follows:

We hereby certify that at the election held ,
votes were cast for the repeal of the present fence law, and
votes were cast against the repeal of the present fence

law; that votes were cast by freeholders, and votes
were cast by non-freeholders. :
E. F.
A. B. G. H. > Judges.
CD. } Clerks. L J

2. The judge of said election, or either of them, shall,
within three days after said election, return to the clerk of the
county court the poll-books and ballots, and the judge of the
county court shall, within three days after said poll-books and
ballots have been returned, ascertain from the certificate and
abstracts of the votes cast, the result of said election, and
cause the result to be entered on the order-book of the county
court by the clerk thereof in term time or vacation, and a
notice of said result to be posted at the front door of the
court-house of said county for at least thirty days.
3. If from such abstract and return of votes cast on the
question of repealing the present fence laws of the county, it
shall appear that a majority of the qualified voters of the
county, voting upon the question are in favor of repealing the
said fence laws, and said majority includes a majority of the
votes cast by freeholders, then it shall be the duty of the
judge of the county court, at the first term thereafter, to
declare the provisions of the said laws inoperative and re-
pealed in said county, which announcement and declaration
shall be entered upon the order-book: provided however, that
said repeal shall not take effect so as to authorize the discon-
tinuance of existing fences until the expiration of sixty days
from and after such announcement and declaration of the
county court.

4, If the existing fence laws of said county are repealed as
herein provided, it shall not be lawful thereafter for any
horses, hogs, cattle, sheep, mules, or goats to go at large in
said county, upon the lands of any person other than the
owner or manager of said animals, nor upon the county road,
nor upon any railroad tract or railway bed; and if the same
are fourd going at large upon the lands of any person other
than the owner or manager of said animals, the owner or
manager of said animals shall be liable for all damages or
injury done by said animals to the owner of the crops or
lands on which they may trespass, whether said animals
wander from the premises of their owner in the county in
which the trespass was committed, or from another county;
and the party so trespassed upon may recover the damages
he has sustained upon a warrant before any justice of the
county in which the trespass was committed, and the costs of
the warrant, with the right of appeal to the county court by
either party, if the amount claimed exceeds twenty dollars.
And if the amount claimed by the party aggrieved exceeds
one. hundred dollars, he shall institute his action for damages
in the circuit court of the county where the trespass was
committed. And for every succeeding offence, judgment shall
be given for double the amount of damages sustained by the
complainant. And any owner or manager of any of. the
animals aforesaid who shall permit the same to go at large
upon the county road, or upon the streets of any village or
town in said county, he shall be liable to a fine of five dollars
for each offence in favor of said county, to be recovered by
the overseer of the county road district in which the offence
was committed, upon a warrant before any justice of said
county, and the costs of said warrant; said fine to be applied
by the overseer of the road in keeping the road in his district
in good repair. And any owner or manager of any of the
animals aforesaid who shall permit the same to go at large on
any railroad track or railroad bed in said county, shall be
subject to a fine in favor of the commonwealth not less
than twenty dollars nor more than fifty dollars, to be applied
to the support of the free schools of this state, to be recovered
before any justice of the county, or by indictment or infor-
mation, with the right of appeal by the defendant, as in other
cases of fine prosecuted for by the commonwealth.

5. No persons adjudged to pay damages in pursuance of
the provisions of this act, or convicted of any fine imposed
by the same, shall be allowed to claim the benefit of the
homestead law, or the exemptions of the poor debtor’s law,
against any such debt or demand.

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