Chap. 526.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 3618 and 3625 of the Code
of Virginia.

Approved December 31, 1903. -

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
thirty-six hundred and eighteen and thirty-six hundred and twenty-five
of the Code of Virginia be amended and re-enacted so as to read as fol-
lows:

§ 3618. How tenant unable to give forthcoming bond may have dis-
tress warrant returned to court and make defense thereto; when officer,
in such case, to take possession of property levied on; its sale, when
perishable or expensive to keep.—On affidavit by a tenant, whose pro-
perty has been levied on under a warrant of distress, that he is unable to
give the bond required in the preceding section, and that he has a valid
defense under section thirty-six hundred and twenty-one, the officer levy-
ing the warrant shall permit the property to remain in the possession
and at the risk of the tenant, and shall return the warrant, together with
the affidavit, to the first day of the next term of the circuit court of his
county or corporation court of his corporation, and thereupon the tenant
may make such defense as he is authorized to make, under section thirty-
six hundred and twenty-one, to an action or motion on the bond where
one is given. If, however, after such affidavit is made, the claimant of
the rent, or some one for him, shall give bond with sufficient surety, in
a penalty double the value of the property levied on, with condition to
pay all costs and damages which may accrue to any one by reason of his
suing out said warrant, the officer shall take possession of the property
and hold the same subject to the order of the court. If the property be
perishable, or expensive to keep, the court, or the judge thereof in vaca-
tion, may order it to be sold, and on the final trial of the cause, the court
shal] dispose of the property, or proceeds of sale, according to the rights
of the parties.

§ 3625. When justice may give judgment on forthcoming bond; how
case moved to court when amount, exclusive of interest, exceeds twenty
dollars.—A justice may, on motion, after ten days’ notice of the time
and place thereof, give judgment on any forthcoming bond taken by a
constable or other officer upon a fieri facias issued by a justice. But in
every case, when the amount actually due upon such bond, exclusive of
interest, exceeds twenty dollars, the justice shall, upon the application of
the defendant, and affidavit filed that he has a substantial defense to the
bond, at any time before trial, remove the cause to the circuit court of
the county or corporation court of the corporation wherein the writ of
fieri facias was issued, and the clerk of the said court shall docket the
same; and it shall be proceeded in as if it was a motion originally made
in said court; and it shall not be discontinued by reason of no order
being entered of its continuance from one day to another, or from one
term to another.

2. This act shall be in force on and after the first day of February,
nineteen hundred and four.
840 AOTS OF ASSEMBLY.