Chap. 319.—An ACT to amend and reenact chapter 23 of the Code of Vir-
ginia in relation to the assessment of lands and lots as the same was
amended and re-enacted by chapter 388 of the acts of assembly 1902-1903-
1904, approved December 10, 1903, and to validate assessments and other
acts done under the aforesaid act of assembly.

Approved March 17, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That chapter
twenty-three of the Code of Virginia, in relation to the assessment of
lands and lots, and their subsequent assessment, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

Chapter XXIII.

$437. When and how assessors appointed to assess lands and lots.—
It shall be the duty of the several circuit courts of the several counties
and corporation or hustings courts of the several cities of this State on
or before the first day of January, in the year nineteen hundred and five.
and every fifth year thereafter, to appoint proper persons to assess the
value of all lands and lots, together with the improvements thereon.
within their respective counties and corporations: provided, thst ‘here
shall be but one assessor for each corporation, except the city of Rich-
mond, where there shall be three; and except further, that all cities
having a population of fifteen thousand may have two assessors, and for
each county as many as there are commissioners of the revenue for the
same. And every person appointed assessor shall be a resident of the
county or corporation and district for which he is appointed. In those
counties in which two or more assessors are to be appointed, the court
shall appoint one for each district in which there is a commissioner of
the revenue, and if at any time the court shall be satisfied that any
assessor appointed under this act will not, or that from any cause he can-
not, perform the duties devolved on him within the time prescribed, the
court may wholly supersede him and appoint another in his place, or
appoint one or more assistants to aid him in his duties, as shall be deemed
most expedient; but before any person thus appointed shall enter upon
the duties of his office he shall take the oath prescribed by the Constitution
and execute the bond prescribed by section four hundred and thirty-eight.
But this section shall not apply to the assessment of railway and canal
corporations, nor of coal and other mineral lands, the assessment of
which is otherwise provided for by law.

$437a. The several commissioners of the revenue in this State shall,
on or before the first day of August, nineteen hundred and three, and
every second year thereafter on or before the fifteenth day of May, spe-
cially and separately assess at the fair market value all mineral lands,
and the improvements, fixtures, and machinery thereon, within their re-
spective districts, and shall enter the same on the land books of their re-
spective districts separately from other lands charged thereon, and shall
extend the taxes upon said lands, improvements, fixtures, and machinery,
assessed as aforesaid, at the rate fixed by law upon tangible property.

The commissioner, in assessing mineral lands, shall set forth upon the
land book the area and the fair market value thereof, first, of such por-
tion of each tract as is improved and under development; second, the fair
market value of the improvements, fixtures, and machinery upon each
tract; and, third, the area and the fair market value of such portion of
each tract as shall not be under development. If the surface of the land
is held by one person, and the coal, iron, other minerals, mineral waters,
gas or oils under the surface be held by another person, the estate therein
of each, and the relative fair market value of their respective interests
shall be ascertained by the commissioner. If the surface of the land and.
the coal, iron, other minerals, mineral water, gas or oils under the sur-
face be owned by the same person, the commissioner shall ascertain the
fair market value of the land, exclusive of the coal, iron, other minerals,
mineral waters, gas or oils, and also the fair market value of the coal,
iron, other minerals, mineral waters, gas or oils, and shall assess both at
such ascertained values, stating separately, however, in every case the
value of the surface of the land and the value of the minerals, mineral
waters, gas or oils under the surface.

The several commissioners shall, on or before the first day of August,
in the year nineteen hundred and three, and on or before the fifteenth
day of May, in every second year theréafter, certify a copy of such assess-
ment made in their respective districts of mineral lands, or mineral rights
as aforesaid, to the State corporation commission, with the name and
postoffice address of each person, firm, or corporation in whose name anv
such lands or interests therein shall have been assessed upon the land
book of his district, with the amount of tax extended thereon. Upon re-
ceiving the report of such commissioner the State corporation commission
shall examine into the justice of any such assessment, and if it shall ap-
pear to the commission that any tract of land, or any part thereof, or the
improvements, fixtures, or machinery thereon, or any right or interest in
the same, or any part thereof, has not been assessed at its fair market
value, the said commission shall direct the attorney for the Common-
wealth for the county or corporation wherein such land or interest therein
so assessed is situated, or any other special attorney it may designate, to
apply, in the name of the Commonwealth, to the circuit court of the said
county or corporation court of said city, to have said assessment cor-
rected, which court shall have jurisdiction for the purpose. Any person
feeling himself aggrieved by the assessment of his lands or interests
therein hereunder may, at any time prior to the first day of February
next succeeding, apply to the circuit court of the county or corporation
court of the city in which the land lies, to have said assessment corrected.
Said application may be made either by motion in open court or by filing
a petition in the clerk’s office of said circuit court, setting forth the lands
or mincral rights on which the assessment complained of is made, praying
that said assessment made be corrected; and the said court at its next
term after the filing of said petition shall hear the said cause and enter
such judgment as to it shall seem proper. The Commonwealth's attor-
ney and the commissioner of revenue who made the assessment shall be
made defendants to said petition or motion, and notice upon them shall
be served at least five days before the cause is hcard. Continuances of
the hearing of said motions or petitions may be granted for good cause.
The proceedings upon any such application shall conform to section four
hundred and forty-four of the Code of Virginia, and all amendments
thereof, except so far as in conflict herewith: provided, that the Com-
monwealth and the person whose property is assessed shall have the right
of appeal from the decision of said circuit or corporation court to the
supreme court of appeals. The said State corporation commission, for
the purpose of this act, may make, or cause to be made, such examination
of the said lands or improvements, fixtures, and machinery thereon, as
it may deem necessary, and may summon and compel the attendance of
witnesses, and call for such information and require the production of
such books and papers as it may deem necessary in the premises.

§438. Bond and oath of assessor.—Each assessor before entering upon
the duties of his office shall, before the circuit or corporation court of
his county or corporation, or judge thereof in vacation, execute a bond,
with surety, in the penalty of five thousand dollars, with condition for
the faithful discharge of the duties of his office according to law; and if
said qualification be in vacation, the certificate thereof and the oath shall
he returned to the clerk of the circuit or corporation court, who shall
record such certificate and the fact of taking the oath in the minutes of
the next term.
$439. Register of land office to forward list of grants to clerks, to be
delivered to assessors along with the land book and list of conveyances;
compensation to clerks.—The register of the land office shall, before the
fifteenth day of January of the year in which an assessment is to be made,
forward to the clerk of each circuit and corporation court a list of all
grants of lands within his county and corporation issued during the
year next preceding such assessment ; and it shall be the duty of the clerk,
without unnecessary delay, to deliver to the assessor of such county or
corporation the said lists of grants, with a copy of the land book for his
county or corporation last returned, and a list of the conveyances re-
corded since the said book was made out. In any county or corporation
in which there shall be more assessors than one, the clerk shall furnish
to each of them a copy of the lists of grants and of the land book, and
also a list of conveyances as aforesaid for the district for which he is
appointed. For the services aforesaid the clerk shall receive such com-
pensation as the circuit court of his county or corporation court of his
city may think proper to allow, which shall be embraced in and paid out
of the first county or corporation levy made after the services shall have
heen rendered. And any clerk who shall fail to perform any duty hereby
enjoined upon him shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars.

$440. Auditor to prepare forms and instructions to assessors.—It shall
be the duty of the auditor of public accounts, before the first day of
January, nineteen hundred and five, and every fifth year thereafter, to
prepare proper forms of returns, so arranged as to show the lands and
lots assessable by them in the district of each commissioner of the rev-
enue separately, with blank to be filled up by the assessors, and cause the
same, with the proper instructions, to be printed, and forward a suffi-
cient number of copies for the use of the assessors to the clerks of the
circuit and corporation courts.

$441. Duties of assessors—The assessors shall, immediately after
their appointment, proceed to examine all the lands and lots, assessable
hy them, with the improvements thereon, within their respective coun-
ties, districts, and corporations, and shall, upon examination, ascertain
and assess the fair market value thereof, and at the same time shall note
whether the owner is white or colored.

$442. To meet for consultation—In any county or city in which
there is more than one assessor, such assessors, prior to the completion
of their labors, shall assemble at least once in each district, for the pur-
pose of consultation, with a view of equalizing, as far as practicable, the
assessment of lands in their respective counties, districts, and corpora-
tions.

$443. To make copies of assessment: disposition of copies.—As soon
as the assessors shall have completed the assessments in their respective
counties, districts, and corporations, they shall make three copies there-
of, in the form in which the land books are now made out, and shall
certify on oath that no lots or lands, assessable by them. are omitted, and
that there are no errors on its face; and one copy shall be preserved and
filed in the clerk’s office of the circuit court of the county or corporation
court of the city wherein the lot or land is located, another copy trans-
mitted to the auditor of public accounts, and another copy shall he de
livered to the commissioner of the revenue of the county, district. or
corporation on or before the first day of June, in the year in which the
assessment is made: but for good cause shown, the judges of the circuit
or corporation courts, respectively, may extend the time of making the
returns of said assessment to the first day of July next succeeding. Each
assessor who shall fail to comply with any requirement of this section
shall forfeit all right to compensation for his services.

$444. How and when erroneous assessment of lands corrected.—Ant
person feeling himself aggrieved by the assessment of his lands or lots
may, upon giving notice to the assessor and to the attorney for the ('om-
monwealth, apply to the circuit court of the county or corporation court
of the corporation in which the land lies, at any time prior to the first
day of February of the year next succeeding such assessment, and not
after, to have the assessment of his lands or lots corrected, which notice
shall be in writing, and shall have appended thereto an affidavit of the
owner, or his duly authorized agent, that in the opinion of the affiant the
assessment of his lands or lots is above the true value thereof. The
attorney for the Commonwealth shall defend the application, and if
the court shall be satisfied that the assessment is too high, it shall reduce
the same to what, in its opinion, is the true value of such lands or Jots:
but if it shall be of opinion that the assessment is too low, then it shall
increase it in like manner; and such application shall have precedence
over all other causes pending in said court, but no cost shall be taxed
against the applicant or the Commonwealth.

$445. Clerks to certify to auditor and assessors all changes made by
their courts in assessments.—It shall be the duty of the clerk of each
circuit or corporation court to certify to the auditor of public accounts
all changes made by said circuit or corporation court of his county or
corporation, in order that the books of assessment on file in the office of
the auditor may be made to conform to the changes directed by the
court: and it shall be the duty of the clerks aforesaid to certify in like
manner to the proper assessor the changes made by the court, that he
may correct the books on file with the clerk so as to conform to the said
orders.

$446. Compensation of assessors.—Each assessor and assistant asses-
sors shall receive the sum of two dollars for each day he shall be neces-
sarily employed in the execution of the duties of his office. The accounts
shall be made out and verified by affidavit before the clerk of the circuit
or corporation court, in which it shall be stated that the time for which
said per diem is claimed was necessarily employed, and when said ac-
counts shall be so made out and verified they shall be paid out of any
money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

$447. Taxes to be extended on basis of assessment.—Taxes on lands
for each year shall be extended on the basis of the last assessment made
prior to such year under the provision of section four hundred and thirty-
seven of this chapter: provided, however, that until the vear nineteen
hundred and six, taxes on lands other than mineral lands, and land: of
railway or canal corporations, shall be extended on the basis of assess-
ments made in the year nineteen hundred: and provided, further, that
taxes on mineral lands and mineral interests shall be extended on the
basis of assessment provided for in section four hundred and thirty-seven
of this chapter.

2. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act, or any part
thereof, are hereby repealed.

3. All assessments and all other acts of every kind which have been
made or done in compliance with the terms of chapter three hundred and
eighty-eight of the acts of assembly, nineteen hundred and two, nineteen
hundred and three, and nineteen hundred and four, approved December
tenth, nineteen hundred and three, are hereby confirmed and declared to
be as valid and binding as they or like assessments and acts would be if
done under this act.

4. An emergency existing to protect the revenue of the State, this act
shall be in force from its passage.