CHAP. 95.—An ACT to amend section 437a of an act to amend and re-
enact chapter 23 of the Code of Virginia in relation to the assessments
of land and lots approved December 10, 1903, as amended and re-
enacted by an act to amend and re-enact section 437a of an act ap-
proved December 10th, 1903, amending and re-enacting chapter 23 of
the Code of Virginia in relation to assessment of lands and lots so that
the said section shall apply to and provide for the assessment of stand-
ing timber trees and to make the same retrospective as to certain assess-
ments approved February 21st, 1906, as amended and re-enacted by an
act to amend and re-enact chapter 23 of the Code of Virginia in rela-
tion to the assessment of lands and lots as the same was amended and
reenacted by chapter 388 of Acts of assembly 1902-34, approved De-
cember 10th, 1903, and to validate assessments and other acts done un-
der the aforesaid act of assembly approved March 17th, 1906, as amend-
ed and re-enacted by an act to amend and re-enact section 437a of an act
entitled 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 reenacted by chapter 388 of the acts of assembly of 1902-
3-4, approved December 10, 1903, and to validate assessments and
other acts done under the aforesaid acts of assembly approved March
17th, 1906, so that said section shall apply to and provide for the as-
sessment of standing timber trees, approved March 12th, 1908, as
amended and reenacted by an act to amend and reenact section 437a of
chapter 23 of the Code of Virginia relating to assessment of lands, lots
and interest therein and improvements thereon as the same has been
heretofore amended by chapter 319 acts of 1906, approved February
19th, 1910.

Approved March 7, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
an act approved February nineteenth, nineteen hundred and ten,
entitled ‘“‘“An act to amend and re-enact section four hundred and
thirty-seven-a of chapter twenty-three of the Code of Virginia,
relative to assessments of lands, lots and interests therein, and
improvements thereon, as the same has been heretofore amend-
ed by chapter three hundred and nineteen, Acts of nineteen hun-
dred and six,” be amended to read as follows:

$437-a. The several commissioners of the revenue of this
State shall, on or before the fifteenth day of May of each year,
specially and separately assess at the fair market value all min-
eral lands and the improvements, fixtures and machinery there-
on, and shall enter the same on the land books of their respective
districts separately from other lands charged thereon, and shall
extend the taxes upon said lands, improvements, fixtures and
machinery, 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 portion of each tract as is improved and under de-
velopment; 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 and other minerals, mineral waters, gas or oil under
the surface be held by another person, the estate therein of each,
and the relative fair market value of their respective interest,
shall be ascertained by the commissioner or assessor. If the
surface of the land and the coal, iron and other minerals, mineral
water, gas or oil under the surface be owned by the same person,
the commissioner, shall ascertain the fair market value of the
land, exclusive of said coal, iron, other minerals, mineral waters,
gas or oils; and also ascertain in addition the fair market value
of the said coal, iron, other minerals, mineral waters, gas, and
oils, and shall assess each at such ascertained values, stating sep-
arately, however, in every case the value of the surface of the
land and the value of the said coal, iron, other minerals, mineral
waters, gas and oils under the surface.

The several commissioners shall, on or before the fifteenth
day of May in every year, certify a copy of such assessments
made in their respective districts of mineral lands and min-
eral rights as aforesaid to the State corporation commission
with the name and postoffice address of each person, firm, or
corporation, in whose name any such lands or interest herein
shall have been assessed upon the land book of his district with
the amount of tax extended thereon. Upon receiving the copy
aforesaid, the corporation commission shall examine into the
justice of any such assessments, and if it shall appear 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 Commonwealth 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 county or cor-
poration court of a city to have said assessment corrected, which
court shall have jurisdiction for the purpose. |

_ Any person feeling himself aggrieved by the assessment of
his lands or interest 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, by filing a petition in the clerk’s office of said court,
setting forth the lands or mineral rights on which the assess-
ment complained of is made, praying that said assessment may
be corrected; and the said court, at its next term after filing of
said petition, shall hear the said cause and enter such judgment
as to it shall seem proper, according to the provisions of sec-
tions five hundred and sixty eight and five hundred and seventy
one of the Code of Virginia as amended and reenacted by an
act approved December twelfth, nineteen hundred and three.

At the hearing of any such motion the Commonwealth
may move the assessment be raised, either on the items embrac-
ed in the motion or on any other item not embraced in the motion,
either on the land embraced in the motion or any other mineral
lands in the name of the complainant in the county or city in
which the motion is made. The Commonwealth attorney and
the commissioner of the revenue, who made the assessment, shall
be made defendants to such petition or motion, and written no-
tice shall be served upon them at least ten days prior to the day
fixed for the hearing of such motion or petition. 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 con-
flict herewith; provided, that the Commonwealth and the person
whose property is assessed shall have the right to appeal from
the decision of said circuit or corporation court to the Supreme
court of appeals. The State corporation commission is author-
ized to employ for the purpose of this act, at the time in each
year when assessments of lands are being made, such person,
or persons, as may be necessary to make, with the commissioner
of the revenue, such inquiry into the value, and such examination
of the property and interests required by this act to be sepa-
rately assessed, and of the improvements, fixtures and machin-
ery thereon, as it may deem necessary. Such person or persons,
who shall be duly sworn to faithfully and honestly perform their
duties, and the respective commissioners of the revenue shall con-
fer together about such assessments and co-operate in procuring
all information necessary or proper to a just assessment of such
property, improvements, fixtures and machinery, and shall care-
fully examine all sales of mineral lands and mining rights record-
ed in the clerk’s office of the several counties, and municipali-
ties in their respective assessment districts, and shall report the
information obtained to the State corporation commission. The
assessment shall be made jointly by the commissioner and the
special assessor employed by the corporation commission; and
in case of disagreement between the two, the question at issue
shall be referred to the circuit or corporation court wherein the
land is situate either in term time or vacation, after not less
than ten days’ notice from the mineral assessor to the commis-
sioner of the revenue or from the commissioner of the revenue to
the mineral assessor, and the clerk of the court shall summon
such witnesses as required by the commissioner of the revenue,
the minera] land assessor, attorney for the Commonwealth or
the owner of the property in question, and the State corpora-
tion commission shall direct the Commonwealth’s attorney, or
any special attorney they may employ, to represent the inter-
ests of the Commonwealth at any such hearing. After hearing
the evidence the court will enter such order as it deems proper,
but nothing contained herein shall prevent the State corpora-
tion commission or the owner from making a motion to cor-
rect the assessment after the land books are made up, and to
appeal to the court of appeals as herein provided.

The person, or persons, employed by the State corporation
commission under this act may be required to give aid to the
Commonwealth’s attorney, or any special attorney that may
be employed by the said commission, in prosecuting or defend-
ing any application for a correction of any assessment under
this act by obtaining and giving information of facts, names
or witnesses or otherwise. Power is hereby given the State
corporation commission to summon and compel the attendance
and testimony of witnesses and the giving of information and
the production of such maps, books and papers as it may deem
necessary, either before it or before the assessor or commis-
sioner of the revenue, and the person or persons employed by
it when considering the assessment of any property hereunder.

In case any person be aggrieved at the assessment made
by the commissioner and the special assessor, and take an ap-
peal in the manner hereinbefore authorized, such appeal shall
not be heard until thirty days’ notice thereof be served, by the
clerk of the court in which the appeal shall be heard, on the
corporation commission.

2. In view of the fact that the time for the assessment of
property for taxation for the year nineteen hundred and twelve
is near at hand, an emergency is hereby declared to exist for
making this act immediately operative, this act shall therefore
be in force from the date of its passage.