Chap. 407.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2 and 9 of an act entitled
an act to provide for the recordation of title to motor vehicles and the
identification of the same; to regulate the purchase, sale, storage and repair
of motor vehicles; declaring the theft of motor vehicles to be a felony and
to prescribe penalties for violations of the act. [S B 239]

Approved March 20, 1920.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
two-and nine of an act entitled an act to provide for the recordation
of titles to motor vehicles and the identification of the same; to regulate
the purchase, sale, storage and repair of motor vehicles; declaring the
theft of motor vehicles to be a felony and to prescribe penalties for
violations of the act, approved September ninth, nineteen hundred and
nineteen, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Sec. 2. Before the operation of any motor vehicle the owner shall
file with the secretary of the Commonwealth for recordation in that
office a statement showing the number of the motor or engine, name
of the manufacturer, when and from whom purchased and the address
of such seller and purchaser. The owner of every motor vehicle in
this State, whether the said motor vehicle is in use or not, shall have
the title to same recorded with the secretary of the Commonwealth,
and no motor vehicle shall be purchased or sold until the title has been
so recorded, provided, that this requirement shall not apply to new
machines in the hands of a licensed dealer and handled by said dealer
as a representative of the manufacturer.

Sec. 9. Any person, knowingly, having in his possession, any
motor vehicle, or any part or parts thereof, after the time when this
law shall take effect, from which or on which any trademark, distin-
guishing or identification number, serial number or mark has been,
or is covered, removed, defaced, destroyed or obliterated, or altered
xr changed in any manner or way, shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
neanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall. be subject to a fine of
10t less than one hundred dollars nor more than three hundred dollars,
yr imprisonment in jail for not less than three months nor more than
yne year, or both, at the discretion of the court or jury trying the
case, unless such person shall, within ten days-from the time when
such motor vehicle, or any such part or parts thereof, shall have come
mto his possession, or within five days from the time such person
shall have acquired knowledge of such matters, file with the secretary
»f the Commonwealth the verified statement required by section eight
of this act. In any case where the identification number on the engine
of a motor vehicle has been covered, removed, defaced, destroyed,
obliterated or altered or changed in any way, the secretary of the Com-
mon wealth may assign a new number and said number shall be stamped
on the engine of said motor vehicle by the owner thereof, but can only
do this on written permission from the secretary of the Commonwealth.