Chap. 118.—An ACT to allow the voters of Northampton county to vote on &
fence law.

Approved January 23, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That it shal)
be the duty of the county court of Northampton, or the judge thereof
in vacation, within the period of four months after the passage of
this act, to submit to the qualified voters of each magisterial district
of said county the question as to whether there shall, or shall not,
be a fence law in either or all of said magisterial districts in said
county; said election to be held and conducted at such time and
places and in such manner under the existing election law of the
state, as said court or judge may by order prescribe.

2. If it shall appear from the returns of said election, that a ma-
jority of the voters in said election in either or all of the said magis-
terial districts is in favor of a no-fence law, then it shall not be
lawful after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-
seven, for the owner or manager of any horse, mule, swine, sheep, goat,
or cattle of any description to permit the said animals to run at
large beyond the limit or boundaries of their own lands; and if any
of the animals enumerated herein shall thereafter be permitted or
found going at large upon the lands of any person or persons other
than the owner or manager of said animal or animals, shall be
liable for all damage or injury done by the said animals to the
owner or owners of the crops or lands upon which they trespass, and
shall be subject to the provisions of sections twenty hundred and
forty-two, twenty hundred and forty-nine, and twenty hundred and
fifty of the code of Virginia, whether the said animal or animals
wander from the premises of their owners in the district in which
the trespass was committed, or from another district in said county.

3. Should it appear from the returns of said election that a ma-
jority of the voters thereof in either or all of the magisterial districts
of said county is opposed to such a no-fence law, then thirty days
after said election all fences within any or all of the said magisterial
districts so voting, whether constructed of posts and boards or posts
and wire, measuring forty-four inches high, or of mauled rails, meas-
uring four feet high and through which stock cannot pass without
breaking or destroying a rail or wire, shall be, and are hereby, de-
clared to be a lawful fence or fences in and for said magisterial dis-
trict or districts of said county.

4, Before any election as aforesaid shall be held, the judge of the
county court aforesaid shall cause the same to be published at least
thirty days previous to the holding of such election by causing to be
posted hand-bills at each voting precinct of said county.

5. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act be, and the
same are hereby, repealed.

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