CHAP. 162.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act of the general as-
sembly of Virginia, approved March 27, 1922, entitled “An act to
regulate the confession of judgments in the office of the clerk of any
court of record in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and to prescribe the
procedure thereon; and to repeal an act of the general assembly of
Virginia approved March 23rd, 1922, entitled “An act requiring every
power of attorney to confess judgment, to be signed and acknowledged
before some officer authorized to take acknowledgments to deeds.”

[H B 99]
Approved April 8, 1923. .

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
an act of the general assembly of Virginia, approved March
twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, entitled,
“An act to regulate the confession of judgments in the office
of the clerk of any court of record in the Commonwealth of
Virginia, and to prescribe the procedure thereon,” be amended
and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

(a) Any person being indebted to another person, may, at
any time confess judgment in the clerk’s office of any court of
record in this Commonwealth, whether a suit, motion or action
be pending therefor or not, for so much principal and interest
as his creditor may be willing to accept a judgment for, which
judgment, when so confessed, shall be forthwith entered of
record by the clerk in whose office it is confessed, in the proper
order book of his court, and shall be as final and as binding as
though confessed in open court or rendered by the court, subject
to the control of the court in which rendered, and may be set
aside only for fraud or other like taint.

(b) The clerk shall enter on the margin of the record of
such judgment, the day and hour when the same was confessed,
and the lien thereof shall attach and be binding from the time
of such confession so entered. , 7

(c) Such confession of judgment may be made either by
the debtor himself or by his duly constituted attorney in fact,
acting under and by virtue of a warrant duly executed and
acknowledged by him as deeds are required to be acknowledged,
before any officer or person authorized to take acknowledgments
of writings to be recorded in Virginia.

Provided, however, that any warrant incorporated in, and
made part of any note or bond the consideration for which is
the loan of money authorizing the confession of judgment there-
on against the makers and endorsers, in the event of default in
the payment thereof at maturity, need not be acknowledged, but
such warrant shall specifically name therein, the attorney, or
attorneys, or other person or persons authorized to confess such
judgment and the clerk’s office in which the judgment is to be
confessed; and any judgment confessed on such note or bond,
in accordance with all the other provisions of this act, by either
of the persons therein authorized to confess the same, and in
the clerk’s office therein designated, shall be as final and binding
as if'said warrant had been acknowledged by the makers and
endorsers of such note or bond.

(d) On the presentation of any such warrant as is men-
tioned in paragraph (c) hereof, by either of the persons therein
named as attorney in fact, or upon the personal appearance of
the debtor or debtors and the expression by him or them of his
or their desire to confess such judgment, the clerk of the court
mentioned in such warrant, or before whom such debtor or
debtors shall so appear, shall draw and require the said at-
torney in fact so appearing, or the debtor or debtors, as the
case may be, to sign a confession of judgment, which shall be in
form substantially as follows:
“Virginia: In the clerk’s office of the
of ———__—_——_-

I, (or we) A. B. (or A. B. and C. D., et cetera) hereby
acknowledge myself (or ourselves) to be justly indebted to, and
do hereby confess judgment in favor of (name of creditor) in
the sum of ———————- dollars ($ ) with interest thereon
from the day of ———————,, nineteen hundred and
, until paid, and the costs of this proceeding (including
the attorney’s fees and collection fees provided for in the instru-
ment on which the proceeding is based), hereby waiving the
benefit of my (or our) homestead exemptions as to the same,
provided the instrument on which the proceeding is based car-
ries such homestead waiver.

Given under my (or our) hand— and seal—, this
day of ———————, nineteen hundred and —-————_.

(Signatures and seals)”
or, if by an attorney in fact, signatures and seals of debtors,

court of the

—e_—_—_—_—_—_— ey
his (or their) attorney in fact.

(e) When a judgment is so confessed, the clerk shall en-
dorse upon such confession, or attach thereto, his certificate in
manner and form substantially as follows:

“Virginia: In the clerk’s office of the ——————— court of the

of ———__—___-.

The foregoing (or attached) judgment was duly confessed
before me in my said office on the day of ;
nineteen hundred and , at o’clock meridian,
and has been duly entered of record in common law order book
number , page

Teste: |
____________—., Clerk.”

(f) The said confession and clerk’s certificate, together
with the warrant, if the confession be by an attorney in fact,
and the note, bond or other obligation, if there be such, on
which the judgment is based, shall be securely attached to-
gether by the clerk and filed by him among the records in his
office.

(g) The clerk shall forthwith docket such judgment in the
current judgment lien docket in his office and shall issue execu-
tion thereon as he may be directed by the creditor therein named,
or his assigns, in the manner prescribed by law.

(h) The following fees and costs, and no other, shall be
taxed by the clerk as and for the costs of such proceeding:

The statutory writ tax __-----------------------------
The attorney fee provided for in the note or other obliga-

tion on which the judgment is confessed_______--~--
The collection fee provided for therein__-..-__---------
Where no attorney or collection fee is so provided for, then
for the attorney in fact, where the judgment is con-

fessed by an attorney in fact, a specific fee of______--- 2.50
For the clerk for drawing confession of judgment__------ 50
For the clerk for certificate as to confession___---------- 25
For the clerk for entering judgment in order book_-__--- 50
For the elerk for noting time of confession on margin of

order book _______-__---------------------------- .
For the clerk for filing all papers__-------------------- 50

For the clerk for docketing the judgment and issuing
executions thereon, the same fees allowed by law for docketing
judgments rendered in court and issuing executions thereon.

(i) No judgment hereaftter confessed in the office of the
clerk of any court of record in this Commonwealth, by virtue of
a warrant, or power of attorney, shall be valid, unless such war-
rant, or power of attorney be in conformity with the provisions
of this act. :

(j) All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act, are
hereby repealed, and the act approved March twenty-third,
nineteen hundred and twenty-two, entitled “An act requiring
every power of attorney to confess judgment, to be signed and
acknowledged before some officer authorized to take acknowl-
edgments to deeds,” is hereby expressly repealed.