Chap. 252.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 2688 of the Code of Virginia,
relating to the rearrangement, increase and diminution, and the change of
names, of magisterial districts in counties. [S B 17]

Approved March 27, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
section twenty-six hundred and eighty-eight of the Code of Virginia
be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 2688. Rearrangement, Increase and Diminution of Dis-
tricts; Change of Names of Districts—(a) Upon the petition of fifty
qualified voters of a county asking for a rearrangement of all the
magisterial districts in said county, or for an increase or diminution
in the number thereof or for a change in the name of any district, or
upon the petition of the like number of qualified voters in the district,
or districts, to be affected by the proposed change, asking for a re-
arrangement of two or more contiguous magisterial districts in a
county, the circuit court of such county may, for good cause shown,
enter an order for the rearrangement of all the districts therein, or
for an increase or diminution in the number thereof, or for a change
in the names of any district in the one case, or for the rearrangement
of two or more contiguous districts in the other case; provided, there
shall not be in any one county less than three nor more than eleven
magisterial districts; but no such order shall be made unless a copy
of the petition shall have been previously posted thirty days at the
courthouse of such county, and at each voting place in any magisterial
district, or districts, to be affected by the proposed change.

(b) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, in
any county having an area of less than sixty square miles of high
land, there may be not less than two nor more than eleven magisterial
districts. For the purpose of this section, the term “high land” in
any county means the land therein above the low water line or mark
of waters within and adjacent to the boundaries of such county.

(c) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any county
in which magisterial districts have been or may hereafter be abolished
by a vote of the people in accordance with sections twenty-seven
hundred and seventy-three-a to twenty-seven hundred and seventy-
three-n, inclusive, of the Code of Virginia.