CHAP. 441.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 2989 of the Code ef
Virginia, as amended by an act approved December 12, 1903, in rela-
tion to jurisdiction of justices of the peace. (S. B. 1L)

Approved March 21, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section twenty-nine hundred and thirty-nine, of the Code of
Virginia, as amended by an act approved December twelfth.
nineteen hundred and three, be amended and re-enacted, so as
to read as follows:

Section 2939. In what a justice has jurisdiction; when and
how case removed to court; when tried.—Any claim to specific
personal property, or to any debt, fine or other money. or to
damages for breach of any contract, or for any injury done to
property, real and personal, which would be recoverable by
action at law or suit in equity, shall, when the claim is to a
fine, if the amount of such claim does not exceed twenty dollars
and in all other cases if the claim does not exceed three hundred
dollars (exclusive of interest), be cognizable by a justice, even
though the claim be for or against the city, town or county in
which such justice resides. In any case of a warrant for a
judgment on any contract which is of such nature that under
the rules of pleading an action of assumpsit would lie, if there
shall be served on the defendant, along with the warrant, a
copy of the account on which the warrant is brought, stating dis-
tinctly the several items of the claim, the aggregate amount
thereof, the time from which interest is claimed, and the credits,
if any, to which the defendant may be entitled, which account
shall be verified by the affidavit o1 the plaintiff, his agent or
attorney, judgment shall be rendered by tne justice in favor of
the plaintiff for the amount, with interest, claimed in the
said account, unless the defendant shall aliege on the affidavit
of himself, his agent or attorney, that the plaintiff is not en-
titled, as affiant verily believes, to recover anything from the
defendant on such account; or state, on such oath, a sum cer-
tain less than that set forth in the account served with the
warrant, which, as the affiant verily believes, is all that the
plaintiff is entitled to recover from the defendant. If the de-
fendant shall admit that the plaintiff is entitled to recover a
sum certain less than the amount stated in the account served
with the warrant, judgment may be taken by the plaintiff for
the amount admitted to be due and the case tried as to the resi-
due. In every case cognizable by a justice where the amount
or thing in controversy exceeds the sum or value of twenty dol-
lars, the justice shall, upon the application of the defendant,
and upon affidavit that he has a substantial defense thereto, at
any time before trial, remove the cause and all the papers there-
of to the circuit court oi the county or the corporation court of
the city wherein the warrant has been brought, and the clerk
of said court shall forthwith docket the same, but it shall not
be tried at any term except by consent of the parties, unless :t
shall have been docketed ten days previous thereto. On such
trial the proceedings shall conform to section thirty-two hun-
dred and eleven. Civil cases or appeals from justices and war-
rants removed shall be tried according to the principles of law
and equity, and where the same conflict the principles of equity
shall prevail. No warrants shall be dismissed by reason of
mere defects, irregularities, or omissions in the proceedings be-
fore the justice, or in respect to the form of the warrant, where
the same may be corrected by a proper order of the court; but
the court to which the appeal is taken, or the warrant removed,
shall retain the same, with full power to direct all necessary
amendments, to enter such orders and direct such proceedings
as will tend to correct the defects, irregularities and omissions
aforesaid, to promote substantial justice to all parties, and to
bring about a trial of the merits of the controversy. This
statute shall be liberally construed, to the end that justice be
not delayed or denied by reason of errors in the warrant or in
the form of the proceedings; and the court may make such pro-
visions as to cost and continuances as may be just.