Chap. 103.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 3956 of the Code of Virginia,
as amended by an act approved February 17, 1898, and by an act approved
February 9, 1900, and by an act approved February 16, 1901; section 3958 and
section 4106, as amended by an act approved February 23, 1894, and by an act
approved March 5, 1896, and by an act approved February 9, 1898, and by an
act approved March 5, 1900, and by an act approved December 10, 1903.

Approved March 11, 1904.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
thirty-nine hundred and fifty-six of the Code of Virginia, as amended
by an act approved February seventeenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-
eight, and by an act approved February ninth, nineteen hundred, and by
an act approved February sixteenth, nineteen hundred and one; section
thirty-nine hundred and fifty-eight and section forty-one hundred and six,
as amended by an act approved February twenty-third, eighteen hundred
and ninety-four, and by an act approved March fifth, eighteen hundred
and ninety-six, and by an act approved February ninth, eighteen hun-:
dred and ninety-eight, and by an act approved March fifth, nineteen
hundred, and by an act approved December tenth, nineteen hundred
and three, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 3956. When it may issue; what to recite and require—On com-
plaint of a criminal offence to any such officer, he shall examine, ‘on
oath, the complainant and any other witnesses, or when such officer
shall suspect that an offence, punishable otherwise than by a fine, has
been committed, he may, without formal complaint, issue a summons
for witnesses, and shall examine such witnesses; and if he sees good
reason. to believe that an offence has been committed, shall issue his
warrant reciting the offence and requiring the person accused to be ar-
rested and brought before a justice of the county or corporation, and in
the same warrant, require the officer to whom it is directed to summon
such witnesses as shall be therein named, to appear and give evidence
on the examination: provided, that in cities and towns having a police
force, the warrant shall be directed “To any policeman of said city (or
town), and shall be executed by the policeman into whose hands it
shall come or be delivered: and provided further, that in cases of mis-
demeanor, where the warrant is issued by a justice or other person
lawfully authorized to issue the said warrant in the county wherein the
offence has been committed, the warrant.shall be made returnable and
tried in the magisterial district in which the offence was committed by
a justice of the said district unless for good cause, shown by affidavit of
the defendant, the justice before whom the said warrant is made re-
turnable shall, in his discretion, remove the trial to some point in another
magisterial district of the said county.

§ 3958. Before whom he shall be brought.—An officer arresting a
person under a warrant for an offence, shall bring such person before
and return such warrant to a justice of the county or corporation in
which the warrant issued, unless such person be let to bail as herein-
after mentioned, or it be otherwise provided. In case of an arrest for
a misdemeanor under a warrant issued by a justice or other person law-
fully authorized to issue the said warrant in the county wherein the
offence is committed, the officer making the arrest shall bring such
person before and return such warrant to a justice in the magisterial
district of the county in which the offence was committed, as may be
directed in the warrant.

§ 4106. What criminal offences police justices and justices of the
peace may try.—The several police justices and justices of the peace, in
addition to the jurisdiction exercised by them as conservators of the
peace, shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts of the
counties and the corporation or hustings courts of the corporations of
the State in all cases of violations of the revenue and election laws of
the State, and of offences arising under the provisions of chapter one
hundred and eighty-seven of sections thirty-eight hundred and one,
thirty-eight hundred and two, thirty-eight hundred and three, and
thirty-eight hundred and four of the Code of Virginia; and except
when it is otherwise specialfy provided, shall have exclusive original
jurisdiction for the trial of all other misdemeanor cases occurring
within their jurisdiction in their respective magisterial - districts, in
all which cases the punishment may be the same as the circuit courts of
the counties and the corporation or hustings courts of the corporations
are authorized to impose. But the grand juries hereafter sworn in the
circuit courts of the counties and in the corporation or hustings courts
of the corporations are hereby authorized and empowered to inquire
into and bring’ to the attention of the court, by presentment or indict-
ment, all such misdemeanors as were cognizable by such grand juries
prior to March fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and in all cases
of misdemeanor in which a presentment or indictment is found by a
grand jury, and for a trial of which such justices have exclusive juris-
diction, a copy of such indictment or presentment, together with the
name of the witnesses, upon whose testimony such indictment or pre-
sentment was made, shall be certified and delivered by the clerk of the
court in which it is found to some justice of the district in which such
offence was committed, said justice to be designated by the court in its
order, and such justice shall forthwith deliver such copy of such indict-
ment or presentment to the sheriff or some constable of his county, or
sergeant or policeman of his corporation, which copy shall have the
force and effect of a warrant of arrest, and the officer shall thereupon
arrest the person or persons so indicted or presented amd carry such
person or persons before said justice for trial, and shall summon the
witnesses aforesaid to appear before such justice, and the same proceed-
ings shall be had thereon as are had updén a warrant issued by a justice,
and the Commonwealth’s attorney for the county or corporation from
whose court the said indictment was certified may, in his discretion,
appear before the justice of the peace trying the case and represent the
Commonwealth in the said trial; and if the case be prosecuted to judg-
ment for the Commonwealth, the justice shall, in taxing the costs,
include therein a fee of five dollars for the attorney for the Common-
wealth, to be paid by the defendant, and execution and capias pro fine
shall issue therefor as in the case of other costs. But nothing in this
act shall be construed as allowing attorneys for the Commonwealth com-
pensation for such services payable out of the State treasury, but all
such fines shall be taxed and paid as hereinbefore provided: provided,
that in any city in which there is a police justice the powers and juris-
diction conferred by this section shall not be exercised by any other
justice of such city, except when acting for and in the stead of the
police justice, according to law. Each police justice and justice of the
peace shall try, or procure some other justice to try, every indictment
which is brought before him, as herein provided.