Chap. 65.—An ACT to amend and re-enact chapter 402 of the acts of assembly,
session 1901-2, entitled an act to protect sheep and other stock in the counties
of this State, approved March 29, 1902, and to amend the title thereof so as to
provide for imposing a license tax on dogs.

Approved February 12, 1903.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of ‘Virginia, That the act of
the general assembly of Virginia, entitled an act to protect sheep and
other stock in the counties of this State. approved March twenty-ninth,
nineteen hundred and two, and the title of said act, so as to provide for
imposing a license tax on dogs, be amended and re-enacted so as to read
as follows:

Chapter 402. An act to impose a license tax on dogs for the protection
of sheep and other stock in this State.

$1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That it shall be
the duty of the commissioners of the revenue in the counties of this State
to take annually, at the time of listing the taxable property therein, a list
of all dogs over three months old, showing whether male or female, with
the name of the owner or person in whose possession the same is found,
upon the oath or affirmation of the owner or housekeeper or head of the
family with whom, or on lot or premises occupied by him, any dog or dogs
may be found, as to the number of dogs such person may own or have,
or ag may be on the lot or premises occupied by him, whether owned by
him (or her) or not; and should the commissioner fail or omit to list a
dog, it shall be his duty to make a note of it on his books for the next
fiscal year, and the owner of said dog shall be chargeable with said tax in
addition to any tax he shall then owe; and shall return such lists of dogs
to the clerk’s office of their respective counties at the time when they
return their lists of taxable property. In addition to the fines and penal-
ties and forfeitures as are now incurred by them for neglect of similar
duties under existing law, the commissioner shall be liable to a fine or
forfeiture of fifty cents for every wilful or negligent failure to list any
dog. The fees for the commissioner of the revenue shall be five cents for
each dog listed by him, to be paid out of the funds derived from the
license tax on dogs upon the order of the board of supervisors.

$2. That in every case where the owner of the dog fails to pay, by
the first day of July next succeeding the return of said lists, the license
tax provided for in the third section of this act, it shall be the duty of
the constable of the district in which said delinquent resides, or, if there
be no constable serving in said district, then it shall be the duty of the
sheriff, or a deputy sheriff of the county in which the delinquent resides,
to kill said dog, for which he shall receive a fee of fifty cents out of the
funds hereinafter provided, and to that end the said constable, sheriff, or
deputy sheriff, shall obtain annually during the month of July from the
county treasurer a list of all delinquents under this act in his district, and
shall, within thirty days after receiving such list, kill said dogs, unless the
tax on them, together with a fee of twenty-five cents, to said constable,
sheriff, or deputy sheriff, is forthwith paid, and on his wilful or negligent
failure to do so, when practicable, he shall pay a fine of five dollars for
each dog he so fails to kill. The constable, or sheriff, or deputy sheriff
shall, at the expiration of the thirty days, account to the treasurer of
his county for all taxes collected by him under this section.

§ 3. That when said commissioners of the revenue shall have ascertained
the number of dogs, they shall assess a license tax of fifty cents per head
on all male dogs and all spayed female dogs, and one dollar per head on
all unspayed female dogs, and the said sums so assessed shall be collected
and accounted for by the county treasurer as county levies are by law
directed to be collected and accounted for, and the treasurer shall keep a
separate account of the fund arising from said tax. The said fund shall
be, and the same is hereby, appropriated for remunerating the inhabitants
of said counties for any loss they may sustain from dogs killing or crip-
pling their sheep, lambs, or any other stock, and for paying for the
expenses necessary to carry this act into effect ; and any balance remaining
on hand for any year shall be appropriated to the county school fun
of public schools, or to the public road fund, as the board of supervisors
may determine, to be used in accordance with the laws governing the dis-
position of such funds.

§ 4. If it be found that the fund arising from this act for any year shall
be insufficient to pay expenses incident to execution of this law, and then
to pay the whole amount of damages inflicted by dogs on the owners of
sheep, lambs, or other stock property in any of said counties, each sufferer
shall be paid out of said fund in proportion to the loss sustained.

§ 5. That it shall be the duty of the board of supervisors of said counties
to hear the application of the owner of sheep, Jambs, or other stock, or his
agent, which have been killed or wounded by dogs (not his own) after the
passage of this act. The said owner or his agent shall file in writing,
under oath, a full description of the sheep, lambs, or stock so killed or
wounded, their real and their assessed value, and all the facts as to how,
when, and where they were killed and wounded. And said owner or agent
shall produce such additional proof before the said board of supervisors
as they may require to satisfy them of the justice of the claim. Upon
such proof the board of supervisors shall enter upon their book an allow-
ance of said damages, and in no case to exceed the assessed value of such
sheep, lambs, or stock; and when said sheep, lambs, or other stock were
not in the possession of said owner at the time of the assessment, the
damages shall be the assessed value of sheep, lambs, and other stock of like
grade and quality in the community.

§ 6. All payments made by the treasurer out of funds created by this
act shall be on the order of the board of supervisors, certified by the clerk
of said board. .

§ 7. The treasurer shall annually, at the yearly meeting of the board
of supervisors, make a statement to said board of his receipts and disburse-
ments of this fund, and said board shall then order the payment of the
damages allowed by them, or such part thereof as they may be able to pay
out of said fund, and all payments out of said fund shall be made within
sixty days after said yearly mecting; at the expiration of said sixty days
the said treasurers shall make a final settlement of this fund with the said
board of supervisors, and said settlement shall be recorded by the clerk
of the county.

§ 8. The fees of officers employed in the execution of this act shall be
similar to those received for like service, and when none are prescribed
by law, the board of supervisors shal] make such compensation as they may
deem right, all of which shall be paid out of such fund.

§ 9. This act shall not affect sections four hundred and ninety-nine, five
hundred, twenty-one hundred and ninety-two, twenty-one hundred and
ninety-three, twenty-two hundred and three, and thirty-seven hundred anc
eleven of the Code of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.

$10. All dogs in this State which have been assessed with a license ta:
pursuant to this act, and upon which the said license is not delinquent
shall be deemed personal property, and may be the subject of larceny anc
malicious or unlawful trespass.

$11. All acts, and parts of acts.in conflict herewith are hereby repealed

$12. Provided, however, the provisions of this act shall not apply t
any incorporated city or town of this State now or hereafter having :
municipal dog tax law, or to any county having a special dog tax law
provided. further. that the repeal of anv special dog tax law of any county
or town in this State now having such special law shall operate to place
such county or town under the provisions of this act, with power in the
ward of supervisors of such county to adjust claims against said county
er town under the said special law out of the funds derived from the
operations of this act: and the boards of supervisors of the counties, and
the councils of the town where there is a special law imposing taxes on
crs, may, by a vote of a majority of the members elected thereto, repeal
and set aside such special law, and when so repealed and set aside the
provisions of this act shall apply to such counties and towns.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.

——