Chap. 355.—An ACT to amend and re-enact chapter 7 of the acts of assembly
of 1928, entitled an act creating a judicial council in Virginia for the pur-
pose of considering and recommending needed changes in the rules of prac-
tice of the courts of the Commonwealth, and the improvement and simpli-
fication of the administration of justice, and defining its other duties, and
providing for the payment of its actual expenses, approved February 8,

1928. [H B 243]
| Approved March 24, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That chapter
seven of the acts of assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty-eight,
be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 1. There is hereby created a judicial council for the State
of Virginia, to be composed of nine members, consisting of three circuit
court judges, two judges of other courts of record, and four attorneys
qualified to practice in the supreme court of appeals of Virginia, the
members thereof to be appointed by the chief justice of the supreme
court of appeals, to serve for four years, or during his pleasure.

Section 2. The chief justice, or, in case of his inability to do so,
one of the other justices of the supreme court of appeals, shall sum-
mon said council to meet at Richmond on the first Wednesday in De-
cember in each year, and at such other times and places as the chief
justice, or such other justice, may designate. If any member, when
so summoned, shall for any cause be unable to attend, he shaJl promptly
notify the justice who issued the summons, of stich fact, and such
justice shall thereupon summon some other person possessing similar
qualification, to attend and act in his stead.

It shall be the duty of each member and/or other person, when
so summoned, to attend and remain throughout the proceedings of the
council, unless excused by the presiding officer, and to advise as to any
matters in respect to which, in their opinion, the administration of
justice in the courts of this Commonwealth may be improved.

Section 3. The chief justice of the supreme court of appeals, or
the other justice summoning the council, as aforesaid, shall be the pre-
siding officer of the council.

The said council shall, during each of their meetings, make a con-
tinuous study of the organization, and the rules and methods of pro-
cedure and practice, of the judicial system of the Commonwealth, the
work accomplished, and the results produced by the system and its
various parts; and also give consideration to the advisability and prac-
ticability of establishing some kind of intermediate court whose judg-
ment would be final in certain classes of cases, with the view to relieving
congestion in the circuit courts. On the request of the presiding ofh-
cer, the attorney general shall attend said council and confer with the
members thereof, more particularly on the Commonwealth’s business
in the courts, and for the purpose of devising methods for the pre-
vention of undue delay in the trial of such cases.

Section 4. Each member of the council shall serve without com-
pensation, but the presiding justice may engage a stenographer and
a permanent secretary to be paid for their services, and they and each
member of the council summoned and attending said council shall be
allowed his actual expenses of travel, and also his necessary expenses
for subsistence while attending the council, which shall be paid out
of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, on the order
of the justice presiding at the council.

All necessary printing shall be done by the division of purchase
and printing as may be ordered by the chief justice of the supreme
court of appeals of Virginia, or the justice presiding at the council.

A report of the proceedings of said council shall be made to the
general assembly and to the supreme court of appeals, with such rec-
ommendations as may be agreed upon.