Chap. 237.—An ACT to amend the charter of the city of Portsmouth, approved
March 10, 1908, by adding a new chapter, in the place of chapter 9 of said
charter, in relation to civil and police justice, providing for his election and
qualifications, and prescribing his powers, duties, jurisdiction, term of office,
and compensation, and repealing chapter 9 of said charter as provided by an
act of the general assembly of Virginia, approved March 12, 1912, as
amended by an ‘act approved March 16, 1918, and repealing all acts, parts
of acts, and charter provisions inconsistent with this act so far as they relate
to the city of Portsmouth, and to abolish the offices of civil justice and
police justice in said city. . {H B 102)

Approved March 23, 1926.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
charter of the city of Portsmouth, approved March tenth, nineteen
hundred and eight, be amended by the addition of a new chapter, in
the place of chapter nine of said charter, in relation to a civil and
police justice, providing for his election, qualification, powers, duties,
jurisdiction, term of office, and compensation, so as to read as follows:

Section 1. Civil and police justice; election, term.—There shall
be elected by the council of the city of Portsmouth, during the month
of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, and every four years there-
after, a special justice of the peace to be known as the civil and police
justice, who shall hold office for a term of four years, and whose term
of office shall begin on the first day of September succeeding his
election.

Section 2. Qualifications——Such civil and police justice at the
time of his election shall be a practicing attorney in this State, and
shall during his term of office reside in the city of Portsmouth, and
shall not during said term hold any other office of public trust.

Section 3. Oath and bond.—Such civil and police justice before
entering upon the performance of the duties of his office shall take the
official oath required by law before the court of hustings for the city
of Portsmouth, or before the judge thereof in vacation. He shall
enter into a bond in the penalty of two thousand dollars before said
court, or the judge thereof in vacation, with surety to be approved
by said court or judge, and conditioned for the faithful performance
of his duties as such civil and police justice.

Section 4. Compensation.—Such civil and police justice shall
receive such salary as the city council shall determine and he shall
receive no other compensation, bail fees, or other emoluments what-
soever.

5. Disability, et cetera, of civil and police justice—The court
of such civil and police justice shall be kept at such place or places
as may be designated by the council of the city of Portsmouth and
shall be open for the transaction of business every day in the year,
except Sundays and such legal holidays as the council of the city of
Portsmouth may authorize it to close; provided, however, nothing
herein contained shall be construed to take away the jurisdiction of
the court on legal holidays. The judge of the court of hustings for
said city shall, by proper order of record, appoint as substitute civil
and police justice a suitable person with like qualifications as the
claim does not exceed the general jurisdiction of said civil and police
justice, and the proceedings on any ‘such attachment shall conform
to the provisions of chapter two hundred and sixty-nine of the Code
of Virginia, nineteen hundred and nineteen; save when attachment
other than under section sixty-four. hundred and sixteen of the Code
of Virginia, nineteen hundred and nineteen, is returned executed,‘and
the defendant has not been served with a copy thereof, the said civil
and police justice, upon affidavit in conformity with sections sixty-
two hundred and sixty-nine of the Code of Virginia, nineteen hundred
and nineteen, shall forthwith cause to be posted at the front door of
his court room a copy of the said attachment, and shall file a certifi-
cate of the fact with the papers in the case, and in addition to the said
posting, the plaintiff, in the said attachment, or his attorney, shall
give to the clerk of the said civil and police justice the last known
address or abode of the said defendent, verified by affidavit, and the
said clerk shall forthwith mail a copy of the said attachment to the
said defendant, at his, or her, last known address, or place of abode;
or, if said defendant be a corporation, at its last known address and
the mailing of the said copy, as aforesaid, shall be certified by the said
clerk in writing, and such certificate shall be filed with the papers in
the case, and after the said copy of the attachment has been so posted
and mailed, as aforesaid, for fifteen days the said civil and police
justice may proceed to try and decide the said attachment.

(d) The said civil and police justice shall have concurrent juris-
diction with the circuit and city courts of general jurisdiction in all
cases of debt due by note when the amount does not exceed one
thousand dollars; provided, however, that where the amount in con-
troversy exceeds the sum of three hundred dollars, the civil and police
justice shall, at any time before trial, upon the application of the de-
fendant, and upon the payment by him of the costs accrued and writ
tax, remove the case and all the papers thereof, to a court having
jurisdiction of appeals from said civil and police justice of the city
wherein the warrant has been brought, and transmit to the clerk the
writ tax received by him, and the clerk of the said court shall forthwith
docket the case. On the trial of the case the proceedings shall con-
form to proceedings under six thousand and forty-six of the Code of
Virginia, nineteen hundred and nineteen.

And such other jurisdiction as may from time to time be conferred
on civil and police justices by the laws of this State.

Section 9. Issue of warrants.—A warrant within the jurisdiction
conferred by this chapter upon such civil and police justice may be
issued by any justice of the peace of his city, except said civil and
police justice, but when so issued it shall be returnable only before
such civil and police justice for trial and determination.

Section 10. Cost, et cetera.—At or before the time of hearing had
before such civil and police justice on any claim of which the civil and
police justice is given jurisdiction by subsections “b’’, ‘'c,”’ and “d,”’
of section eight of this act the plaintiff in such claim shall pay to the
said civil and police justice a trial fee of fifty cents for each hundred
dollars of value, or fraction thereof, claimed in such warrant. The
trial fee shall be taxed as part of the cost. The civil and police justice
shall pay weekly into the treasury of the city of Portsmouth all fees,
fines, forfeitures and costs or other moneys collected by him.

Section 11. Procedure.—All procedure under this act in claims
and proceedings of which the civil and police justice is given juris-
diction by subsections ‘‘b,”’ ‘‘c,’”’ and ‘‘d,”’ of section eight of this act,
except so far as herein otherwise provided, shall conform to the chapter
of the Code of Virginia, nineteen hundred and nineteen, concerning
warrants for small claims, except that warrants for small claims may
also be made returnable before such civil and police justice, if the
defendant, or one of them, if there be more than one defendant, 1s
regularly employed or has his regular place of business in the city of
Portsmouth, or if the cause of action arose therein; except that on
motion of either party the adverse party may be required to file par-
ticulars of the claims or the grounds of the defense as provided in
section sixty hundred and ninety-one of the Code of Virginia, nineteen
hundred and nineteen, and except that the proceedings in a cause
wherein an infant or an insane person is a party shall not be stayed
because of such infancy or insanity, but the civil and police justice
before whom such suit is pending shall appoint some discreet and
competent attorney at law as guardian ad litem of such infant or
insane defendant, whether such defendant shall have been served
with process or not; or if no such attorney be found willing to act, the
civil and police justice shall appoint some other discreet and proper
person as guardian ad litem who shall faithfully represent the interest
or estate of the infant or insane person for whom he is appointed; but
the said guardian ad litem so appointed shall not be liable for costs.
The civil and police justice rendering any judgment may issue a writ
of fieri facias thereon, immediately, if there be not a new trial granted,
nor an appeal allowed, nor a stay of execution; and the said civil and
police justice may from time to time renew such writ either before or
after the expiration of one year from the date of the judgment.

Section 12. Appeals and removals.—In all misdemeanors triable
before such civil and police justice under the provisions of this chapter,
there shall be an appeal from his judgment to the court of hustings of
the city of Portsmouth, as now or hereafter provided by law for appeals
from the judgment of a justice of the peace for the counties of this
State. In all civil cases triable before such civil and police justices
no removal to any other court shall be allowed, but in all cases over
twenty dollars, exclusive of the interest, there shall be an appeal of
right to any of the courts exercising generally original common law
jurisdiction in such civil cases in his city, and all such appeals shall be
tried and judgment rendered as provided by section sixty hundred
and thirty-eight of the Code of Virginia, nineteen hundred and nine-

teen, but no appeal shall be granted unless and until the party apply-
‘ing for the same shall have given bond, with sufficient surety, to be
approved by the said civil and police justice, to abide the judgment
of the court upon the appeal, if such appeal be perfected, or if not so
perfected, then to satisfy the judgment of the said civil and police
justice, judgment against such surety, when the appeal is not perfected,
to be entered under section six thousand and twenty-eight of the Code
of Virginia, nineteen hundred and nineteen. No surety in any such
appeal bond shall be released by the appellant’s being adjudicated a
bankrupt at any time subsequent to the judgment rendered by the
said civil and police justice, but such surety shall be entitled to make
any defense on the trial of the appeal that the appellant could have
made except the defense of bankruptcy. The party taking such an
appeal may direct-to which of said courts said appeal shall be sent for
trial where there are more than one of such courts, and in the absence
of such directions, the said civil and police justice may send the same
to any court having jurisdiction, and the clerk of said court, upon
receipt of the papers in any such appeal, shall, upon payment of the
writ tax, forthwith docket such case in its regular order; but if said
writ tax be not so paid within thirty days from the date of the judg-
ment, the said appeal shall thereupon stand dismissed, and the said
judgment shall become final, and the said papers, upon application of
any party in interest, shall be returned to the said civil and police
justice by the clerk of the appellate court. Appeal cases shall not
have preference over other cases pending in such appellate courts as
regards the time of the trial. The city of Portsmouth shall have the
right of appeal to the hustings or circuit court of said city from any
decision of the civil and police justice affecting the public revenue of
the city or the legality or validity of any ordinance passed by the
council of said city.

13. Dismissal of claims.—If any claim of which the civil and
police justice is given jurisdiction by subsections “‘b,’’ ‘‘c,’”’ and ‘‘d,”’
of ‘section eight of this act shall have been pending before such civil
and police justice sixty days, he shall notify the parties that the same
will be dismissed in ten days thereafter unless good cause be shown
to the contrary, and unless such cause be shown, such civil and police
justice shall forthwith dismiss such claim.

All papers connected with any of the proceedings in the trial of
cases before such civil and police justice, except such as may be re-
moved on appeal, and except also such papers in criminal matters as
are required by law to be returned to and lodged in the clerk’s office
of a court of record of such city, shall be properly indexed and filed
and preserved and in claims of which the civil and police justice is
given jurisdiction by subsections ‘‘b,’’ ‘‘c,”” and ‘‘d,’’ of section eight
of this act, the civil and police justice at or before the time of hearing
or trial on any such claim, shall require the plaintiff (in such claim) to
pay to said civil and police justice the sum of twenty-five cents for the
filing and indexing of the papers in such case. The said filing and
indexing fee shall be taxed as a part of the costs. The said civil and
police justice shall pay weekly into the treasury of the city of Ports-
mouth all filing and indexing fees so paid to him.

Section 14. Rules of practice.—The civil and police justice shal]
have the power to make and enforce such reasonable rules of practice
as are not in conflict with law.

Section 15. Courtroom, books and stationery.—The said city of
Portsmouth shall provide a suitable court room or court rooms and
office for such civil and police justice and shall furnish all necessary
furniture, books, and stationery. Such books shall be under the con-
trol of the.civil and police justice and shall remain the property of the
city.

Section 16. Additional duties.—The council of the city of Ports-
mouth may, by ordinance, require the civil and police justice to per-
form all the duties required of the judge of the juvenile and domestic
relations court as provided by law.

Section 17. Transfer of records, et cetera.—All papers, records,
warrants, and all proceedings previously had or pending in the civil
justice court and in the police court of the city of Portsmouth on the
thirty-first day of August, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, shall be
transferred to and shall become a part of the records of said civil and
police court as herein established, and such civil and police court may
review and correct any such proceedings, and all judgments and pro-
ceedings had in said civil justice court and police court shall be en-
forced by said civil and police court by the issuance of proper orders,
executions, garnishments, or other legal process as if the said pro-
ceedings had originally been had in the said civil and police court.
The clerks of said civil justice court and said police court are hereby
directed to deliver all papers and records in their possession to the
judge of said civil and police court.

2. Be it further enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That chapter nine of the charter of the city of Portsmouth, as con-
tained in an act of the general assembly of Virginia, approved March
twelfth, nineteen hundred and twelve, as amended by an act approved
March sixteenth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, be, and the same is
hereby repealed, and all acts or parts of acts and charter provisions in
conflict with this act, so far as they relate to the city of Portsmouth,
are hereby repealed, and the offices of civil justice and police justice,
are now existing in the city of Portsmouth, under and by virtue of
chapters one hundred and twenty-three and one hundred and twenty-
four of the Code of Virginia, nineteen hundred and nineteen, shall be
abolished on and after the first day of September, nineteen hundred
and twenty-six.