Chap. 486.—An ACT providing for the sub-division of tracts of land
into lots or parcels, and for the record of plats thereof.

Approved March 5, 1888.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
hereafter every owner or proprietor of any tract of land who:
has heretofore sub-divided or shall hereafter sub-divide the
same into three or more parts for the purpose of laying out
any town or city, or any addition thereto or any part thereof,
or suburban lots, shall cause a plat of such sub-division with
references to known or permanent monuments, to be made,
which shall accurately describe all the sub-divisions of such
tracts or parcels of land, and giving the dimensions and length
and breadth thereof, and the breadth and courses of all the
streets and alleys established therein. Descriptions of lots or
parcels of land in such sub-divisions according to the number
and designation thereof on said plat contained, in convey-
ances or for the purpose of taxation, and copies of such plats,
or extracts therefrom, properly attested by the clerk in whose
office said plats are recorded, shall have the same force and
effect as evidence that copies of deeds now have, shall be

deemed good and valid for all intents and purposes.
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2. Every such plat shall contain a statement to the effect
that the above or foregoing sub-division of (here insert a cor-
rect description of the igadl or parcel sub-divided), as appears
in this plat, is with the free consent and in accordance with
the desire of the undersigned owners and proprietors, which
shall be signed by the owners and proprietors, and shall be
duly acknowledged before some officer authorized to take ac-
knowledgments of deeds; and when thus executed and ac-
knowledged, said plat shall be filed for record and be recorded
in the office of the clerk of the proper county or corporation
court.

3. The acknowledgment and recording of such plat shall
operate to create a public easement or right of passage over
such portion of the premises platted, as is on such plat set
apart for streets or other public use, and shall be equivalent
to a deed in fee simple to such portion thereof as is therein
dedicated to charitable, religious, or educational purposes.

4. Streets and alleys so platted and laid out, or which have
been platted or laid out under any plat heretofore recorded,
may be altered or vacated in the manner provided by law for
the alteration or discontinuance of highways.

5. Any such plat may be vacated by the proprietors thereof
at any time before the sale of any lot therein by a written
instrument declaring the same to be vacated, duly cxecuted,
acknowledged or proved, and recorded in the same office with
the plat to be vacated; and the execution and recording of
such writing shall operate to destroy the force and effect of
the recording ot the plat so vacated, and to divest all public
rights in the streets, alleys, commons, and public grounds laid
out or described in such plat. And in cases where any lots
have been sold, the plat may be vacated as herein provided,
by all the owners of lots in such plat joining in the execution
of the writing aforesaid.

6. Any part of a plat may be vacated under the provisions
and subject to the conditions of this act: provided such vacat-
ing does not abridge or destroy any of the rights or privileges
of other proprietors in said plat: and provided further, that:
nothing contained in this section shall authorize the closing
or obstructing of any public highways laid out according to
law.

7. When any part of a plat shall be vacated as aforesaid,
the proprietors of the lots so vacated, may enclose the streets,
alleys, and public grounds adjoining said lots, or making such
other disposition of the same as may be provided in the in-
strument vacating the same, and the title to the same shall
be transferred or vest accordingly.

8. The clerk of the county or corporation in whose office
the plats aforesaid are recorded, shall write in plain, legible
letters across that part of said plat so vacated, the word “va-
cated,” and also make a reference on the same to the volume
and page in which the said instrument of vacation is recorded.

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