Chap. 83.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4978 of the Code of Virginia,
in relation to forfeited recognizances, so as to enlarge the jurisdiction of
trial justices with respect thereto. [H B 114]

Approved March 8, 1938

I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion forty-nine hundred and seventy-eight of the Code of Virginia, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 4978. When a person, under recognizance in a criminal
case, either as party or witness, fails to perform the condition thereof,
if it be to appear before a court of record, his default shall be recorded
therein, and if it be to appear before a trial justice, his default shall
be entered by such trial justice on the page of his docket, whereon the
case is docketed, and he shall notify the attorney for the Common-
wealth of the same. The process on any such forfeited recognizance
shall be issued from the court before which the appearance was to be,
and wherein such forfeiture was recorded or entered. Any such
process issued by a trial justice, where the penalty of the recognizance
so forfeited is in excess of one thousand dollars, shall be made return-
able to the circuit court of his county, and where not in excess of one
thousand dollars, it shall be made returnable before, and tried by, the
said trial justice, who shall promptly transmit to the clerk of the circuit
court of his county, an abstract of such judgment as he may render
thereon, which shall be forthwith docketed by said clerk.

If such recognizance so forfeited be not for such appearance,
process thereon shall be issued from the court in which it was taken,
or the court to which it was made returnable, and in a proceeding in
one court on a recognizance entered in another, a copy thereof shall
be evidence in like manner as the original would be, if it had been
entered in the court wherein the proceeding is being had thereon.