Chap. 137.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled ‘‘an act to incorporate
the Children’s Home Society of Virginia,’ approved January 30, 1900.

Approved March 10, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
approved January thirtieth, nineteen hundred, entitled “an act to incor-
porate the Children’s Home Society of Virginia,” be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

2. That Joseph Bryan, John L. Williams, John Garland Pollard,
B. R. Wellford, junior, Pascal Davie, Ii. Raab, Charles T. O’Ferrall,
C. W. Tanner, Charles Straus, John P. Branch, O. S. Morton, and
W. H. Clemmitt, of Virginia, and D. W. Comstock, of West Virginia,
and such other persons as are now or may be hereafter associated with
them, are hereby declared to be a body politic and corporate by the name,
style, and title of the Children’s Home Society of Virginia, and by that
name shall be known in law, and shall have perpetual succession and @
common seal, with right to change the same at will, and shall have power
to sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, plead and be im-
pleaded, and have all the rights and privileges of corporations, and he
subject to all the rules, regulations, and restrictions, and do all acts and
enjoy all powers incident to similar corporations in general under and
subject to the laws of the Commonwealth. The chief office of the said
society shall be in the city of Richmond, Virginia, with such branch
offices as may be necessary in other places in the State of Virginia.

3. That the purposes of said Children’s Home Society of Virginia
shall be finding family homes for homeless, indigent, or dependent poor
children in the State of Virginia, and other purposes incident thereto.

4. That the members of said corporation, who are or may be entitled to
vote in any election of officers, shall have full power and authority to
make and adopt a constitution and by-laws, and to prescribe rules and
regulations for the government of said corporation and the promotion of
its interests, and for the admission and expulsion of members, and, from
time to time, to amend and alter the same: provided, that the same be
not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States
and the State of Virginia.

5. That the officers of the said corporation shall consist of a presi-
dent and such others as may be deemed necessary, and shall be elected
at such times as the constitution and by-laws shall prescribe.

6. That the corporation may take and acquire by purchase, gift, devise,
bequest, or otherwise, and hold real and personal estate, and lease, rent,
sell, encumber, or otherwise dispose of ‘the same as may seem most ad-
vantageous: provided, it shall not hold at any one time real estate of
greater value than one hundred thousand dollars; and provided further,
that the said property, or income derived therefrom, shall be used
wholly for the purposes of said corporation.

?. That the said Children’s Home Society of Virginia, being purely
benevolent and charitable, shall be exempt from payment of all taxes,
both State and municipal.

8. The said socicty is authorized to take into its care, custody, and
control any child committed to it by any justice of the peace or court of
competent jurisdiction, or by the parents or guardian of any such child,
or if one parent of such child be dead, insane, or habitually drunk, or
has abandoned such child, he or she may be committed to said society
by the other parent. The said society is hereby declared to be the legal
guardian of any child which has been or may hereafter be thus com-
mitted to it, and shall have the power, in the manner prescribed by law,
to bind out such children as apprentices to learn any reputable trade or
calling, or may place them in private homes or orphan asylums, or similar
institutions, under such contract as may protect the interests of such
children, and may also, as guardian, give consent to the adoption of such
children by any person, and it shall not be necessary for any court hav-
ing jurisdiction in the adoption of minor children to require any other or
further consent to such adoption.

9. Whenever any child under the age of fourteen years, by reason of
orphanage, or of neglect, crime, drunkenness, or other vice of the parents
or other persons having custody of such child, is growing up without edu-
cation or salutary control, and in circumstances exposing such child to a
dissolute and vicious life, or is an inmate of any public poorhouse or
almshouse in this State, any officer, agent, or member of said society may
make complaint thereof to any justice of the peace or police justice, and
it shall be the duty of such justice of the peace or police justice to issue
his process, commanding that said child be brought before him as soon
as practicable. The person having custody of such child shall also be
summoned to appear at the time and place of hearing said complaint,
and any witnesses he or she may desire shall also be summoned and heard
in his or her behalf. If, upon such hearing, it appear that the com-
plaint is well founded, and that the interests of such child demand that
it should be relieved from such vicious or unsalutary surroundings, or
should be removed from such poorhouse or almshouse, such child shall
bv order in writing be committed by such justice of the peace or police
justice to such society until he or she shall attain the age of twenty-one
vears.

10. From every order of a justice or police justice committing any
child to the care, custody, and control of said society, an appeal may be
taken by said society or the person from whose custody the child was
taken, or by any near relative, within ten days, to the circuit court of the
«ounty or the corporation or hustings court of the city of which said
justice of the peace or police justice may have jurisdiction, and the
judge of said court, in term or vacation, shall hear and decide the said
appeal without formal pleadings and without a jury, and shall discharge
saidchild or reecommit him or her tothe custodyand control of said society,
or make any order in relation to such child which, in his opinion, will
promote the welfare of such child. Pending the hearing of the case or
of the appeal, the said justice of the peace or police justice may make
such orders for the care and custody of the child as may be proper. Any
person who shall wilfully obstruct any officer in the discharge of his
duty, or who shall remove or conceal, or cause any child to be removed
or concealed, in order that it may not be brought before such justice,
police justice, or court, shall be guilty of contempt, and may be punished
by such justice, police justice, or court by a fine of not less than two nor
more than twentv dollars, or imprisonment in jail not exceeding three
months, either or both.

11. The said society shall not be hable, nor shall any of its officers,
agents, or members be personally liable for damages in any action for the
detention of any child, unless it can be proved that such detention was in
wilful violation of an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or unless
such child be detained by reason of actual malice on the part of such
officer, agent, or member.

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