CHAP. 323.—An ACT to amend and re-enact 21145 of the code of
Virginia as to how certain charters of incorporation ted,
altered or amended by circuit or corporation courts, and where
to be recorded ; validating all charters to build and operate
street railroads heretofore granted by a circuit or corporation
oon but forbidding said courts to grant such charters in the

uture,

Approved February 20, 1992.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That section eleven hundred and forty-five of the code of
Virginia be amended and re-enacted so as to read as fol-
lows:

§1145. How certain charters of incorporation granted,
altered or amended by circuit or corporation courts, and
where to be recorded; validating all charters to build and
operate street railroads heretofore granted by a circuit
or corporation court, but forbidding said courts to grant
such charters in the future.—Any five or more persona,
who shall desire to form a joint stock company for the
conduct of any enterprise or business, which may be law-
fully conducted by an individual or by a body politic or
corporate, except to construct a turnpike, to be constracted
beyond the limits of the county, or a railroad, or canal, or
to establish a bank of circulation, may make, sign, and
acknowledge before any justice or notary, or county or
corporation judge, or clerk of a county, corporation or
circuit court, a certificate in writing setting forth the name.
of the company, the purposes for which it is formed, the
capital stock and its division into shares, the amount of
real estate proposed to be held by it, the place at which its
principal office is to be kept, the chief business to be
transacted, and the names and residences of the officers
who for the first year are to manage the affairs of the com-
pany. This certificate may be presented to the circuit
court of the county, or the circuit or corporation court of
the corporation, wherein the principal office of the company
is to be located, or to the judge thereof in vacation. The
said court or judge in vacation shall have a discretion to
grant or refuse to said persons a charter of incorporation
upon the terms set forth in the said certificate, or grant it
upon such other terms as may be adjudged reasonable.
If the charter be granted, it shall be recorded by the clerk
of the said court in a book to be furnished and kept for
the purpose, and shall be certified by him to the secretary
of the commonwealth, to be in like manner recorded in
his office. Any charter heretofore or hereafter granted to
a@ company under the provisions of this section by a court
or judge thereof in vacation may be altered or amended,
or the corporate name of the company be changed, by the
said court or the judge in vacation on the application of
the company, authorized by a majority of the stockholders
in general meeting. And any charter heretofore or here-
after granted by the general assembly which, under the
provisions of this section, might have been granted by a
court or judge, may in like manner, and on like applica-
tion, be altered or amended, or the corporate name of the
company changed by the circuit court of the county, or
circuit or corporation court of the corporation wherein the
principal office of the company is, or by the judge of such
court in vacation ; such alteration or amendment or change
shall be recorded by said clerk and in the office of the
secretary of the commonwealth, as hereinbefore provided
for recording charters, and shall be as effectual and legal
from that time as if originally a part of said charter.
Any charter heretofore granted by a circuit or corporation
court to build and operate a stréet railroad, shal] be deemed
valid to all intents and purposes; but said courts are
hereby inhibited and forbidden to hereafter grant any
charters to build and operate street railroads. But nothing
contained in this section shall be held or construed as
denying to any building fund association, which has here-
tofore been organized and incorporated under the act of
May twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and
amendatory acts, all the rights, powers, privileges, and
franchises granted to and vested in such associations
under said acts. And it shall not be lawful for the gen-
eral assembly to grant relief or to incorporate any com-
pany, or to alter or amend the charter of any corporation,
provision for which is made in this section, unless appli-
cation shall have been first made to some circuit or corpo-
ration court, or the judge thereof in vacation, and refused :
provided, that nothing in this act shall be construed to
authorize the condemnation of lands by any street rail-
road company chartered by the courts.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.