Chap. 110.—An ACT to establish a court of law and chancery for the city of
Roanoke, Virginia.

Approved March 10, 1910.

Whereas, the city of Roanoke, Virginia, now contains more than
thirty thousand inhabitants, and it is desirable that there should be es-
tablished for the said city a court of probate and record, separate and
apart from the corporation court of said city, and that there should be
elected an additional judge to hold said court and perform such other
duties as should be prescribed by law; now, therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That from and
after the first day of April, in the year nineteen hundred and ten, there
shall] be in the said city of Roanoke a court of probate and record, sep-
arate and apart from the corporate court of said city, to be called and
known as the “court of law and chancery of the city of Roanoke,” and
there shall be an additional] judge with like qualification and to be elected
in the same manner as the judge of the corporation court. The first
term of the said court shall commence on the first Monday in April,
nineteen hundred and ten, but the term of office of the judge of said
court to be elected by the general assembly hereunder shall commence the
first day of February, nineteen hundred and eleven, and shall end Jan-
uary thirty-first, nineteen hundred and nineteen, and each term there-
after shall be for eight years. A vacancy in said judgeship for the
period between the passage of this act and the first day of February,
nineteen hundred and eleven, is hereby declared to exist, which vacancy
shall be filled by appointment by governor.

2. That the said court of law and chancery shall have concurrent
jurisdiction with the circuit court and the corporation court of Roanoke
in all matters concerning the probate and recordation of wills, the ap-
pointment, qualification and removal of fiduciaries and the settlement of
their accounts, and in granting and hearing writs of mandamus, prohi-
bition and quo warranto, or information in the nature of quo warranto,
and original and general jurisdiction with the circuit and corporation
courts of said city of all suits and proceedings in chancery, of all such
civil cases at law within said city as are cognizable by the circuit court
or corporation court of Roanoke, including motions to recover money,
actions of forcible or unlawful entry and detainer, distress warrants and
attachments for rent.

And the said court, or the judge thereof in vacation, shall have the
same power to award injunctions and rights of habeas corpus, and ad-
mit to bail, as are now or may hereafter be conferred upon the circuit or
corporation courts of this Commonwealth, or the judges thereof in vaca-
tion, and shal] have the same jurisdiction of such matters and of all
other matters cognizable in said court which are now or may hereafter
be granted to the judges of the circuit or corporation courts in vacation
in like matters.

Any duly devolved, or power of jurisdiction conferred, or which may
hereafter be devolved or conferred by law on the circuit courts of this
Commonwealth, or the judges thereof, respectively, shall, unless other-
wise provided, be deemed to be also devolved or conferred on the said
court of law and chancery of the city of Roanoke, or the judge thereof,
‘respectively, except as to matters of which the corporation court of the
said city shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

3. But the said court of law and chancery shall have no jurisdiction
of the following matters, which shall remain as heretofore in the corpo-
ration court of said city:

Presentments, indictments and cases for offense, actions and pro-
ceedings to enforce the payment of fines and penalties, except those con-
ferred by law exclusively upon the police justice of said city, or justices
of the peace; questions, powers and duties arising out of the laws for the
assessment and collection of taxes; suits, questions, powers and duties
arising out of the local option Jaws and the laws regulating the license
and sales of ardent spirits; questions, powers, duties and proceedings
arising out of the election laws and contested elections; appeals, renewals
from the trial justice of said city, the appointment and removal of officers
conferred by law upon the corporation court; the docketing of judgments
and the recordation in the mode prescribed by law of deeds and other
writings authorized er required by law to be recorded, and the certifying
of charters of incorporation. And the said corporation court, and the
judge thereof in vacation, shall retain all the powers and jurisdiction
possessed by the corporation court of the city of Roanoke, and discharge
all the duties devolving upon said corporation court of said city as of the
date of the passage of this act, except such as are herein conferred upon
the court of law and chancery.

4. There shall be a term of said court of law and chancery for each
month in the year, except that the judge may omit the term to be held
in the month of August by order entered of record. The terms of said
court shall begin on the first Monday in each month, and shall continue
go long as the business of the court may require. The rules for the said
court shall be the same as are now or may hereafter be prescribed for
the circuit courts of this Commonwealth.

5. Appeals, writs of error and supersedeas from and to judgmente,
decrees and orders of the said court of law and chancery of the city of
Roanoke, and the judge thereof, shall be taken and allowed, as from and
to judgments, decrees and orders of a circuit court or a circuit judge.

6. In all cases removed to the court of law and chancery from the
said corporation court under this act the said court of law and chancery
shall execute and enforce by proper process and in the manner provided
by law every judgment, decree or order entered therein prior to the
first day of April, nineteen hundred and ten, and shall supervise, correct
and enforce in like manner any rules taken or order, entry or endorse-
ment made by the clerk or any return made by the sergeant of the said
corporation court before the said first day of April, nineteen hundred
and ten.

?. The court of law and chancery shall have six commissioners in
chancery, to be appointed by the judge of said court, one of whom shall
be designated as the commissioner of accounts for said court, except
that it shall be permissible for the judge of the said court of law and
chancery, in his discretion, to appoint as such commissioner of accounts
the same person who is commissioner of accounts for the said corporation
court.

8. The sergeant of the city of Roanoke shall be the officer to attend
on the said court of law and chancery, and to execute its process and
order.

9. All provisions of law now in force or hereafter to be enacted re-
lating to jury and civil cases, applicable to the circuit courts of this
Commonwealth, shall apply to the said court of law and chancery in the
city of Roanoke, and all provisions of law now in force or hereafter
enacted relating to courts, judges or officers of courts, shall apply to the
aaid court of law and chancery whenever applicable, as if the said court
of law and chancery was specifically named therein, and any provisions
shall apply in terms to the corporation or circuit courts shall also apply
to the said court of law and chancery as if it were specifically named
therein, whenever necessary or proper, to enable it to exercise the powers
and jurisdiction herein conferred or when relating to matters where the
zaid court is given jurisdiction.
10. During the absence of the judge of the said court of law and
chancery, or of the said corporation court of the city of Roanoke, or the
inability of either, from any cause, to hold a term of his court or to sit
during the whole term, or to sit in any particular case or to discharge
any official duty required by law, the said term, or any part thereof, may
be held, or the said case be heard or tried and decided, or the said duty
may be discharged, if it be the judge of the said court of Jaw and chan-
cery, by any circuit or corporation judge, and if it be the judge of the
corporation court of said city, by any circuit or corporation judge, or
the judge of said court of law and chancery: provided, however, that no
extra compensation shall be allowed therefor when either of the judges
of said court of law and chancery and corporation court of said city of
Roanoke shall sit or discharge duties for the other.

11. The clerk of the corporation court of said city shall also be the
clerk of the court of law and chancery, and shall receive for his compen-
sation such reasonable salary as may be allowed him by the councils of
the city of Roanoke, to be paid out of its treasury; and in the event the
councils fail or neglect to allow a reasonable salary to said clerk for the
services rendered by him under this act, the judge of this court shall
by order of record, fix the salary to be paid said clerk, and the same
shall be paid to him out of the treasury of the city of Roanoke.

He shall qualify as now provided by law and give bond for the faith-
ful discharge of his duties in both courts, and if he qualified before the
judge in vacation, the bond shall be certified to both the corporation
court and the court of law and chancery, to be recorded in both courts.
It shall be his duty as the clerk of the corporation court to forthwith
docket, in the manner provided by law, all judgments, decrees or orders
for the payment of money rendered in the said court of law and chancery,
or the clerk’s office thereof, or by the judge thereof in vacation.

12. The salary of the judge of the court of law and chancery shall be
three thousand dollars, of which sum fifteen hundred dollars shall be paid
out of the treasury of the State and fifteen hundred dollars by the city of
Roanoke; except, further, that the council of the city of Roanoke, by
resolution adopted, may increase the salary of the judge of the said court
of law and chancery by such sum as it may see fit, such increase to be
wholly out of the treasury of said city; but no such increase shall be
made during the term for which the judge thereof is elected.

13. An emergency existing by reason of the necessity for the estab-
lishment of the court of law and chancery for the city of Roanoke, this
act shall take effect from the date of its passage.