Chap. 159.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5189 of the Code of
Virginia as amended by an act approved September 5, 1919, and as
further amended by ar act approved March 19, 1920, and as further
amended by an act approved February 18, 1922. [H B 132]

Approved March 29, 1923.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section fifty-one hundred and eighty-nine of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended by an act approved September fifth, nineteen
hundred and nineteen, and as further amended by an act ap-
proved March nineteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty and as
further amended by an act approved February eighteenth, nine-
‘teen hundred and twenty-two, be amended and re-enacted so as
to read as follows:

Section 5189. Reservation of title to, and liens on, goods
and chattels sold, to be void as to creditors, and purchasers for
value, unless in writing and docketed.—Every sale, or contract
for the sale of goods and chattels, wherein the title thereto, or
a lien thereon, is reserved, until the same be paid for, in whole
or in part, or the transfer of title is made to depend on any con-
dition, where possession is delivered to the vendee, shall, in re-
spect to such reservation and condition be void as to creditors
of the vendee who acquire a lien upon the goods and as to pur-
chasers from the vendee, for value, without notice, from such
vendee unless such sale or contract be evidenced by writing,
signed by the vendor and the vendee, setting forth the date
thereof, the amount due, when and how payable, a brief de-
scription of the goods and chattels, and the terms of the reserva-
tion or condition; and unless said writing is filed for docketing
with the clerk of the county or corporation, where deeds are ad-
mitted to record, as provided by law, in which said goods and
chattles may be; provided, that if such filing for docketing be
done within five days from the delivery of the goods and chattels
to the vendee, it shall be as valid as to creditors and purchasers
as if such filing for docketing had been done on the day of such
delivery of the goods and chattels; and it shall be the duty of
such clerk to endorse on such contract the words, “filed and
docketed”’ together with the day and hour of such filing with the
signature of the clerk affixed thereto; or, if such goods and
chattels consist of locomotives, cars, or other rolling stock,
equipments, or personal property of any description, to be used
in or about the operation of any railroad, operating as a public
. service corporation, until and except from the time the said
writing is duly docketed in the clerk’s office of the county or
the corporation, where deeds are admitted to record, as pro-
vided by law, wherein the principal office, in this State, of the
company operating such railroad is located, and a copy of said
writing be filed in the office of the State corporation commission,
and each locomotive, car, or other piece of rolling stock, be
plainly and permanently marked with the name of the vendor,
on both sides thereof, followed by the word “owner.”

It shall be the duty of the clerk to docket the writings men-
tioned herein by setting out the above mentioned particulars of
the contract in a well bound book, to be called the “‘conditional
sales book,” and to index the same, thereon, alphabetically, in
the name of both the vendor and the vendee, for which service
he may charge a fee of twenty-five cents; except in case of pub-
lic service corporations, he may charge a fee not exceeding fifty
cents; but no tax shall be charged thereon.

All recordation and docketings made, as required by law, as
it existed before the Code of Virginia of nineteen hundred and
nineteen became effective between the thirteenth day of January,
nineteen hundred and twenty and the nineteenth day of March,
nineteen hundred and twenty, both inclusive, are hereby vali-
dated, except where the validity of such recording or docketing
has been or could be attacked or questioned in litigation now
pending; and provided, further, that all recordations and
docketings made in accordance with an act approved March
nineteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty, entitled an act to
amend and re-enact section fifty-one hundred and eighty-nine of
the Code of Virginia, as amended by an act approved September
fifth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, are hereby validated; and,
provided, further, that all recordations and docketings heretofore
made of such writings without filing a memorandum thereof, are
hereby validated; but nothing in this provision shall be con-
strued as intended to affect vested rights.