Chap. 213.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5812 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to new promise; how plaintiff to sue. [H B 248]

Approved March 22, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
fifty-eight hundred and twelve of the Code of Virginia, as amended,
be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 5812. If any person against whom the right shall have so
accrued on an award, or any such contract, shall, by writing signed by
him or his agent, promise payment of money on such award or con-
tract, the person to whom the right shall have so accrued may main-
tain an action for the money so promised, within such number of
years after such promise, as it might be maintained under section fifty-
eight hundred and ten, if such promise were the original cause of action.
The plaintiff may sue on such promise or on the original cause of
action, except that where the promise is of such a nature as to merge
the original cause of action, then the action shall be only on the promise.
If the action be on the original cause of action, and the defendant files
a plea under section fifty-eight hundred and ten, the plaintiff shall be
allowed to reply specially stich promise, or he may, without replying
specially, show such promise in evidence to repel the bar of the plea,
provided he shall have given the defendant reasonable notice before
the trial of his intention to rely on such promise. An acknowledgment

in writing, from which a promise of payment may be implied, shall
be deemed to be such promise in the meaning of this section. When
a debtor is adjudicated a bankrupt or discharged in a bankruptcy pro-
ceeding any promise to pay such debt, after such adjudication or dis-
charge, shall be in writing for any action at law or in equity to be main-
tained thereupon.

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