Chap. 262.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4978 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to forfeited recognizances ‘and proceedings
thereon. [S B 204]

Approved March 27, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
section forty-nine hundred and seventy-eight of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, 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 Com-
monwealth of the same. The process of any such forfeited recogniz-
ance 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 recog-
nizance so forfeited is in excess of one thousand dollars, shall be
made returnable 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 judg-
ment as he may render thereon, which shall be forthwith docketed
by said clerk.

If such recognizance so forfeited be not for such appearance, pro-
cess 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.

The foregoing provisions of this section shall not apply to a case
where the defendant posted a cash bond and the case is tried in his
absence and the money so deposited disposed of by the court or justice
in the manner prescribed by law.

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