Chap. 48.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5447 of the Code of Virginia,
relating to unlawful entry and detainer, authorizing recovery of rents and

damages. [S B 59]
Approved February 23, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
fifty-four hundred and forty-seven of the Code of Virginia, be amended
and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 5447. Verdict and judgment; how summons issued by
justice directed and served.—lIf it appear that the plaintiff was forcibly
or unlawfully turned out of possession, or that it was unlawfully de-
tained from him, unless it also appear that the defendant has unlawfully
held or detained the possession for three years before the date of the
summons, the verdict or judgment shall be for the plaintiff for the said
premises, or such part thereof as may be found to have been so held or
detained. The verdict or judgment shall also be for such damages as
the plaintiff may prove to have been sustained by him by reason of such
forcible or unlawful entry, or unlawful detention, of the said premises,
and/or such rent as he may prove to have been owing to him at the
time of the institution of the action, provided such damages and/or
rent not exceeding the jurisdictional amount of the tribunal in which
the action or proceeding is instituted shall be claimed and sued for in
the summons or declaration. But no such verdict or judgment shall bar
any separate concurrent or future action or proceeding for any such
damages and/or rent as may not be so claimed and/or sued for in the
summons or declaration. When part only of the premises is found for
the plaintiff, the verdict or judgment shall describe the part so found.
In such cases the verdict or judgment shall be for the plaintiff. If the
verdict be for the defendant as to the whole, premises and for all such
damages and/or rent judgment shall be for him. ‘The summons issued
by a justice may be directed to the sheriff, sergeant, or any constable,
and served in the same manner as the process issued from the court.