Chap. 417.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 448 as materiel by an act
approved February 25, 1892. and by an act approved January 22, 1894, and by
an act approved May 20. 1903; section 457 as amended by an act approved Jan-
uary 22, 1894; section 459 as amended by an act approved February 9, 1898;
section 492 as amended by an act approved February 24, 1898; section 498 as
amended by an act approved January 8, 1898; sections 460, 462, 487, 488, 491,
503, 521, 524, 527, 528, and 532, and to repeal section 472 ‘of the Code of Vir.
ginia.

Approved December 10, 1903.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
four hundred and forty-cight, as amended by an act approved February
twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and by an act approved
January twenty-second, cighteen hundred and ninety-four, and by an
act approved May twentieth, nineteen hundred and three; seetion four
hundred and fifty-seven, as amended by an act approved January twenty-
second, eighteen hundred and ninety-four; section four hunded and
fifty-nine, as amended by an act approved February ninth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-cight; section four hundred and ninety-two, as amended
by an act approved Vebruary twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and
ninety-eight; section four hundred and ninety-eight, as amended by an
act approved January eighth, eightcen hundred and ninety-cight; sec-
tions four hundred and sixty, four hundred and sixty-two, four hundred
and eighty-seven, four hundred and eighty-cight, four hundred and
ninety-one, five hundred and three, five hundred and twenty-one, five
hundred and twenty-four, five hundred and twenty-seven, five hundred
and twenty-eight, and five hundred and thirty-two, of the Code of Vir-
ginia, be amended and re-enacted go as to read as follows:

$448. Numbers of the commissioners of the revenue; when and how
districts changed; voters in a city not to vote for commissioners of a
county.—There shall be four commissioners of the revenue for each of
the counties of Bedford, Franklin, and Pittsvlvania; three for each of
the counties of Carroll, Grayson, Tlalifax, Hanover, Patrick, Smyth,
Tazewell, Campbell, and Lee: two for each of the countics of Accomac,
Albemarle, Amherst, Bath, Botetourt, Brunswick, Buchanan, Bucking-
ham, Charlotte, Chesterfield, Culpeper, Cumberland, Dickenson, Dinwid-
die, Fairfax, Flovd, Frederick, Fluvanna, Henry, He nrico, Louisa, Lunen-
burg, Madison, Mecklenburg. Montgomery, Nansembnd, Nelson, Norfolk,
Nottoway, Orange, Prince William, Russell, toanoke, Scott, Southamp-
ton, Spotsylvania, Sussex, Stafford, Washinglon, Wjse, and Wythe; oms
for each magisterial district in the counties of Augusta, Fauquier, Lou-
doun, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Alleghany, Caroline, and Shenandoah:
one for every other county now existing, or which may be hereafter
created, and one for each city; but the voters residing within any city
shall not vole for the commissioner of the revenue for the county withir
the limits of which such city lies. In those counties in which there may
be more than one commissioner each shall be for a certain district, the
bounds of which shall be as now laid off and established, but the circuit
court of any of said counties may, prior to May first in any year, make
any change in said districls which to it shall seem proper.

$457. What real estate exempt from taxation—The following real
estate, and no other, shall be exempt from taxation, State and. local :

(a) Real estate directly or indirectly owned by the State, however
held, and real estate lawfully owned and held by counties, cities, towns,
or school districts used wholly and exclusively for county, city, town, or
public school purposes.

(b) Buildings with land they actually occupy, lawfully owned and
held by churches or religious bodies and wholly and exclusively used for
religious worship, or for the residence of the minister of any such church
or religious body, together with the additional adjacent land reasonably
necessary for the convenient use of any such building.

(c) Private family burying-grounds not exceeding one acre in area,
reserved as such by will or deed, or shown by other sufficient evidence to
be reserved as such and so exclusively used, and public burying-grounds,
and lots therein exclusively used for burial purposes and not conducted
for profit, whether owned or managed by local authorities or by private
corporations.

(d) Buildings with the land they actually occupy, wholly devoted to
educational purposes, belonging to and actually and exclusively occupied
and used by churches, public libraries, incorporated colleges, academies,
industrial schools, seminaries, or other incorporated institutions of learn-
ing, including the Virginia Historical Society, which are not corpora-
tions having shares of stock or otherwise owned by individuals or other
corporations, together with such additional adjacent land owned by said
churches, libraries, and educational institutions as may be reasonably
necessary for the convenient use of such buildings, respectively ; and also
the buildings thereon used as residences by the officers or instructors of
such educational institutions: provided, that such libraries and educa-
tional institutions are not conducted for profit of any person or persons,
natural or corporate, directly or under any guise or pretense whatsoever.
But the exemption mentioned in this subsection shall not apply to any
industrial school, individual or corporate, not the property of the State,
which does work for compensation or manufactures and sells articles in
the community in which such school is located: provided, that nothing
herein contained =hall restrict: any such school frem doing work for or
selling its own products or any other articles to any of its students or
employees.

(e) Real estate belonging to, actually and exclusively occupied and
used by young men’s christian associations and other similar religious
asaociations, orphan or other asylums, reformatorics, hospitals, and nun-
neries, which are not conducted for profit, but purely and completely as
charities.

(£) Buildings, with the land they actually occupy, belonging to any
benevolent or charitable association and used exclusively for lodge pur-
poses or meeting rooms by such association, together with such addi-
tional adjacent land as may be necessary for the convenient use of the
buildings for such purposes ; and

(g) Real estate belonging to the Association for the Preservation of
Virginia Antiquities, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, and
the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union.

No inheritance tax shall be charged, directly or indirectly, against any
legacy or devise made according to law for the benefit of any institution
or other bedy or any natural or corporate person whose property is ex-
empt from taxation as mentioned in this chapter. ,

Nothing contained: in this chapter shall be construed to exempt from
taxation ihe property of any person, firm, association, or corporation
who shall, expressly or impliedly, directly or indirectly, contract or
promise to pay any sum of money or other benefit on account of death,
sickness, or accident to any of its members or any other persons; and
whenever any building or land, or part thereof, mentioned in this sec-
tion and not belonging to the State, shall be leased or shall be a source
of revenue or profit, all of such buildings and land shall be liable to tax-
ation as other land and buildings in the same county, city, or town; and
nothing herein contained shall be construed as authorizing or requiring
any county, city, or town to tax for county, cily, or town purposes, in
violation of the rights of the lessees thereof existing under any lawful
contract heretofore made, any real estate owned by such county, city, or
town, and heretofore leased by it.

§ 459. Clerks to make out annually lists of deeds; what lists to con-
tain—The clerk of every circuit or city court shall annually, on or
before the fifteenth of January, make out a list of all deeds for the par-
tition or conveyance of land other than deeds of trust and mortgages
made to secure the payment of debts, and shall also make out on a sepa-
tate sheet at the same time a list of all deeds of trust and mortgages on
land, as well as deeds of trust on personal property made to secure the
payment of debts, which have been admitted to record in the clerk’s office
of such court within a year ending on the thirty-first day of December
next preceding, which first-mentioned list shall state the date of the
deed, when admitted to record, the names of grantors and grantees, the
quantity of land conveyed, the specified value thereof, and a description
of the same; and the last-mentioned list shall state the date of the deed
of trust or mortgage, when admitted to record, the name of the grantor,
the names of the creditors, and the amount of debt to each secured by
the deed of trust or the mortgagee in the mortgage, and the amount of
debt secured thereby and the property conveyed in such deed of trust or
mortgage: provided, however, that copies of the list last mentioned shall
only be furnished to the commissioners of the revenue as provided by
section four hundred and sixty-one, and not to the auditor of public ac-
counts, the object of said last-mentioned list being simply to give the
vommissioners of the revenue the amount of debts secured so that the
same may be listed for taxation in the manner provided by law.

§ 460. Clerks to make out lists of judgments for partition or recov-
ery of lands, and of lands devised.—The clerk of every circuit or city
court shall make out a list of all judgments and decrees for the partition
or recovery of lands which have been rendered, and of all lands devised
by wills, which have been recorded in such court within the same and
next preceding year, which list shall state the date of the deeree, the
land which is the subject of the partition, and between whom, and in
what proportion it is divided, and the date of the will containing the
devise, when admitted to record, the names of the devisor and devisee,
and a description of the land devised.

§ 462. Register of land office to furnish to auditor and commissioners
abstracts of grants.—An abstract shall be made out by the register of the
land office on or before the fifteenth day of January of each year, or as
soon thereafter as practicable, for the auditor of public accounts, and for
each county or corporation, of all grants issued for lands therein from
his office within the year ending the thirty-first day of December next
preceding. The register shall transmit every such abstract, other than
that for the auditor, to the commissioner of the revenue for the proper
county or corporation; and where, in any county, there are more com-
missioners than one, the register shall transmit a copy of the abstract for
such county to the clerk of the circuit court for each commissioner
therein. The same shall be directed to the proper courthouse and mailed
within one month after the expiration of the said year; and the register
shall pay the posiage and recvive credit therefor in his settlement with
the auditor.

§ 487. Personal property book; what to be entered therein.—AlL male
persons over twenty-one years of age, not pensioned by this State for mil!-
tary service, all personal estate within this Commonwealth, and the
moneys and credits of persons residing therein, whether such moneys and
credits, as distinguished from other personal estate and as defined in see-
tion four hundred and eighty-nine, be in or out of this Commonwealth
(except such personal estate, moneys, and credits as are expressly ex-
empted by law, or are otherwise taxed) shall be entered on the commis
sioner’s personal property book, and shall be subject to such taxation a:
may be provided by law.

§ 488. What personal property is exempt from taxation—The follow-
ing personal property and no other shall be exempt from taxation, State
and local:

(a) Property directly or indirectly owned by the State. !swever held,
and property lawfully owned and held by counties, cities, towns, oF
school districts, used wholly and exclusively for coun'y, city, town, or
public school purposes, and obligations issued by the State since the four-
teenth day of February, eighteen hundred and cighiy-two, or hereafter
exempted by law.

(b) The furniture and furnishings of buildings, lawfully owned and
held by churches or religious bodies, and wholly and exclusively used for
religious worship or for the residence of the ministers of any such chure)
or religious body.

(c) The furniture, furnishings, books, and instruments contained in
buildings wholly devoted to educational purposes, belonging to, and ac-
tually and exclusively used by churches, public libraries, incorporated
colleges, academies, industria] schools, seminaries, or other incorporated
institutions of learning, including the Virginia Historical Society, which
are not corporations having shares of stock or otherwise owned by indi-
viduals or other corporations; and also the permanent endowment funds
held by such libraries and educational institutions, directly or in trust
and not invested in real estate: provided, that such libraries and educa-
tional institutions are not conducted for profit of any person or persons,
natural or corporate, directly or under any guise or pretense whatsoever.
But the exemption mentioned in this subsection shall not apply to anv
industrial school, individual or corporate, not the property of the State,
which does work for compensation or manufactures and sells articles in
the community in which such school is located: provided, that nothing
herein contained shall restrict any such school from doing work for or
selling its own products or any other articles to any of its students or
employees.

(d) Personal property, including endowment funds, not invested in
real estate, belonging to young men’s christian associations and other
similar religious associations, orphan or other asylums, reformatories,
hospitals, and nunneries, which are not conducted for profit, but purely
and completely as charities.

(e) The furniture and furnishings of buildings belonging to any be-
nevolent or charitable association and used exclusively for lodge pur-
poses or meeting rooms by such association.

(f) Personal property belonging to the Association for the Preser-
vation of Virginia Antiquities, the Confederate Memorial Literary So-
ciety, and the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Asociation of the Union.

§ 491. What persons and property to be listed for taxation; how be-
ginners in business assessed; taxpayers to give in lists and make oatli
thereto; how assessment made when a person refuses to furnish list.—
The commissioner shall ascertain and assess all the personal property
not exempt from taxation, and all subjects of taxation in his county,
district, or city on the said first day of February in each year, and also
all male persons of full age and of sound mind residing therein, except
those pensioned by this State for military service; and herein shall be
included all persons agd property removed from one county, district, or
city to another between the first day of February and the day on which
the commissioner may deliver his bocks to the officer charged with the
collection of taxes; but persons or property assessed in one county, dis-
trict, or city shall not be assessed in any other for that year: provided,
that any person beginning any trade or business after the first day of
February of any year shall be assessed from the date of beginning upon
the capital used or intended to be used by him in carrying on such trade
or business, the same to be ascertained as hereinafter provided, and the
tax thereon shall bear such proportion to the whole annual tax as the
space of time between the assessment of the same and the first day of Feb-
ruary bears to a full year: provided, further, that the money invested in
said business shall not be twice taxed as capital for the same year in the
same county or city. It shall be his duty to call on every person in his
county, district, or city to furnish a list of such property, money, credits.
or other subject of taxation as required by law, and the value thereo/.
Upon neglect or refusal to give such list, the commissioner, in order ts
obtain the same, may apply to any officer of this State, or to any office:
or agent of a company or firm, or to any person having knowledge thereof
or interested therein, to furnish any information such person may have
relating thereto. It shall be the duty of the commissioner, in all cases,
to administer an oath to any such person to make true answers to such
questions as he may ask in relation to any matter about which he is au-
thorized to inquire; and if the same be the person assessed with taxes on
the property, the oath shall be as prescribed in section four hundred and
ninety-four. A commissioner failing to administer. the oath required
shall forfeit fifty dollars.

§ 492. By whom property is to be listed; to whom taxed.—If property
be owned by a person sui juris, it shall be listed by and taxed to him. If
property be owned by a minor, it shall be listed by and taxed to his guar-
dian or trustee, if any he has; if he has no guardian or trustee, it shall
be listed by and taxed to his father, if any he has; if he has no father,
then it shall be listed by and taxed to his mother, if any he has; and if
he has neither guardian or trustee, father nor mother, it shall be listed
by and taxed to the person in possession. If the property is the sepa-
rate property of a person over twenty-one years of age or a married wo-
man, it shall be listed by and taxed to the trustee, if any they have; and
if they have no trustee, it shall be listed by and taxed to themselves. in
either case it shall be listed and taxed in the county or corporation where
they reside; but if they be non-residents of Virginia the said property
shall be listed and taxed in the county or corporation wherein such tru:
tee resides. If the property be the estate of a deceased person, it shall be
listed by the personal representative or person in possession and taxed
to the estate of such deceased person. If the property be owned by an
idiot or lunatic, it shall be listed by and taxed to his committee, if any:
if none has been appointed, then such property shall be listed by and
taxed to the person in possession. If the property is held in trust for
the benefit of another, it shall be listed by and taxed to the trustee in
the county of his residence (except as hereinbefore provided) : provided,
that all farming implements, live stock, and other personal property on
a farm shall be listed and taxed in the county whefe such farm is located,
and not elsewhere. If the property belong to a company or firm, it shall
be listed by and taxed to the company or firm. If the property belong
to a corporation, which property is not otherwise taxed, it shall be listed
to the corporation by the principal accounting officer and at the principal
place of business of such corporation; but if not so listed it shall be
listed and taxed in the place where the property is. If the property con-
sists of money, bonds, or other evidences of debt under the control or in
the possession of a receiver or a commissioner, it shall be listed by and
taxed to such receiver or commissioner, and the clerk of each court shall
furnish the commissioner of the revenue with all bonds and funds held
by the commissioners or receivers under the authority of the court. If the
property consist of money or other thing deposited to the credit of any
suit and not in the hands of a receiver, it shall be listed by and taxed to
the clerk of the court in which the suit is, and such clerk shall, upon the
order of his court, made in term or vacation, withdraw from such de-
posit the amount of such tax: provided, that funds, credits, or estate in
the hands of receiver of a court, or deposited to the credit of a suit, to
await adjudication and disbursement. upon debts reported in suits or pro-
ceedings pending in such court shall not be listed for taxation. If the
property consists of money, bonds, stock, or other evidences of public or
private debts in any county or city other than that of his residence or
State other than Virginia, it shall be listed by and taxed to the owner
thereof; and it shall be the duty of the respective examiners of records
of the said judicial circuits, where the respective fiduciaries are appointed
or qualified, to report to the respective commissioners of the revenue of
the counties or corporation in which said property is liable for taxation,
all property held by said fiduciaries to be taxed as provided by law. If
the property be listed by and taxed to any person other than the owner,
it shall not be delivered to the owner until the taxes thereon are paid or
indemnity given to the person in possession for the payment thereof.

§ 498. Taxpayer fined if he refuses to exhibit property ; commissioner
if he take answers not sworn to.—If any person refuse to exhibit to the
commissioner or to his duly qualified deputies any property mentioned in
the answers to the interrogatories or required by this chapter to be taxerl
in order that a fair valuation thercof may be assessed, he shall pay a fine
of not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars. No com-
missioner or any one of his deputies shall receive any answers as a sufli-
cient return of personal property unless the same be sworn to according
to law, under a penalty of five hundred dollars.

And upon complaint to the judge of the circuit or corporation court
of the county or corporation, supported by the sworn affidavit of two or
more reputable taxpayers, it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court
that the commissioner of the revenue of such county or corporation, or
any of his deputies, has not complied with the requirements of this and
the four preceding sections of this act, or any of them, the judge shall
forthwith remove such delinquent commissioner or deputy, and appoint
his successor.

§ 503. Proceedings against persons rendering false lists —If any per-
son knowingly render a false list of personal property, choses in action,
moneys, credits, capital, income, salary, or other subject of taxation, and
swear to such list, it shall he the duty of the attorney for the Common-
wealth, upon his own knowledge, or upon information furnished him by
any revenue officer of the State, or any other person under oath, to file
a petition in the circuit court of the county or corporation court of the
city wherein the list was taken, setting forth the total or partial omis-
sions in his list of subjects of taxation, or the false values annexed to
any of said subjects, and asking the court to summon the person or per-
sons giving the list to answer the petition. Upon the summons being
duly executed, the court shall impanel a jury to try the allegations of the
petition; and if a verdict be rendered establishing a false list, the court
shall render judgment against the accused for double the amount of
taxes imposed upon the property so omitted, together with the costs of

82
the proceedings, including a fee of five dollars to the Commonwealth’:
attorney ; and the court shall, moreover, direct the treasurer of the county
or city, upon ten days’ notice, to sell for cash the said property, or so
much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy the judgment aforesaid, with
a commission. to said treasurer of five per centum upon the amount
thereof ; and it shall be the duty of said treasurer to make report of the
sale to the court, and within twenty days from such sale to pay the taxe:
so collected into the treasury of the State and to pay the costs to the per-
sons respectively entitled thereto; and any Commonwealth’s attorney
failing to perform the duties required of him by this section shall be
fined not exceeding one hundred dollars. The clerk shall transmit a
copy of the report to the auditor of public accounts, who shall charge
the treasurer with the amount shown thereby to be due the Common-
wealth.

§ 521. Compensation to clerk.—The circuit court of the county or
corporation court of the corporation shall make an allowance to the clerk
for his services in making the examination of the land and property
books required by this chapter, which shall be paid out of the treasury.
Where there is only one commissioner the allowance shall not exceed fif-
teen dollars a year; where there are two, it shall not exceed twenty-five
dollars a year, and where there are three or more, it shall not exceed
thirty-five dollars a year; and for the failure of the clerk to perform
any duty required of him by either of the eight preceding sections he
shall forfeit one hundred dollars.

§ 524. Fees of commissioners. Each commissioner shall be entitled
to the following fees: For making an cntry or assessment under section
four hundred and sixty-eight of any parcel of land, one dollar for every
such parcel, to be paid by the owner; for making an assessment when
required by any owner of any part of the land under section four hun-
dred and seventy-one, one dollar and seventy-five cents; the parties
among whom the land is divided shall be jointly and severally liable,
except where the commissioncr’s proceedings are confirmed by the court,
in which case the party complaining shall pay the commissioner's fee, in
addition to the cost incurred in consequence of the application to the
court; for making an entry transferring to one person lands before
charged to another, one dollar, which shall be charged to the person to
whom the transfer is made, and be a compensation for all tracts in the
commissioner’s county, district, or city conveyed by the same deed; for
an entry of land according to sections four hundred and seventy-five and
four hundred and seventy-eight, one dollar, which shall be charged to
the person for whom the entry is made.

The said fees shall be in full for said services, whether the same be for
the benefit of the State or for the citics, counties, or towns of the State,
and no city, town, or county shall pass any resolution or ordinance author-
izing any commissioner to charge any other or additional compensation
for these or similar services under any by-law or ordinance of such city
or town, or resolution or order of such county.

§ 527. Postage advanced to be refunded.—The auditor shall also pay
to the several commissioners all postage advanced by them in the trans-
mp etou of their bovks or any correspondence touching the duties of their
office.

$ 528. When compensation withheld —The compensation allowed {¢
a commissioner shall not be paid unless he has punctually performed his
duties in reference to the assessment of property and licenses, and has
made all reports required within the time prescribed by law, or can show
to the satisfaction of the auditor a sufficient reason for his delay. In
every such case the auditor may settle with such commissioner for his
services upon equitable principles.

§ 532. Commissioner to furnish lists of violations of revenue laws for
inquiry by grand juries; if no violation, to make sworn statement of the
fact; pay withheld until these duties performed.—It shall be the duty
of every commissioner and deputy commissioner to file with the clerk
of the circuit court of the county, or corporation court of the city, ten
days prior to the impancling of a regular grand jury for such county or
corporation, a list of all violations of the revenue laws committed by
persons other than himself, showing the nature and character of each
violation, together with a list of the witnesses by whom it is expected to
prove the offense. And it shall be the duty of the clerk forthwith, upon
receipt of such list, to summon to appear before the next grand jury to
testify on behalf of the Commonwealth the witnesses named in such list,
and to deliver to the attorney for the Commonwealth for such court a
copy of such list, and he shall also, on the first day of the term of the
court, deliver such list to the judge of the court, whose duty it shall be
to give specially in charge to the grand jury all the violations of the rev-
enue laws mentioned in such lists. In case no violation shall have been
discovered by said commissioner, or otherwise come to his knowledge, it
shall be the duty of the commissioner to furnish a statement of the fact,
verified by affidavit, to the court of the county or corporation at which a
regular grand jury is to be impancled. And the auditor of public ac-
counts shall not issue his warrant for the compensation due any commis-
sioner until such commissioner shall furnish a certificate from the court
of his county or corporation that he has complied with the requirements
of this section. It shall be the duty of the circuit court of each county
and corporation court of each city specially to charge the grand juries to
inquire into all violations of the revenue laws of this State by the com-
missioners of the revenue thercof.

2. That section four hundred and seventy-two of the Code of Virginia
be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

3. This act shall be in force on and after the first day of February,
nineteen hundred and four.