Chap. 112.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 5189 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to docketing conditional sales contracts, and
certain other contracts, so as to permit the use of a separate general index
therefor. [H B 192]

Approved March 6, 1942

1. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
fifty-one hundred and eighty-nine of the Code of Virginia, as heretofore
amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
Section 5189. Reservation of title to, and liens on, goods and
chattels sold, to be void as to creditors, and purchasers for value, unless
in writing and docketed—Every sale, or contract for the sale of goods
and chattels, wherein the title thereto, or a lien thereon, is reserved, until
the same be paid for, in whole or in part, or the transfer of title is made
to depend on any condition, where possession is delivered to the vendee,
shall, in respect to such reservation and condition be void as to creditors
of the vendee who acquire a lien upon the goods and as to purchasers from
the vendee, for value, without notice, from such vendee unless such sale
or contract be evidenced by writing, signed by the vendor and the vendee,
setting forth the date thereof, the amount due, when and how payable,
a brief description of the goods and chattels, and the terms of the reserva-
tion or condition; and unless said writing is filed for docketing with the
clerk of the county or corporation, where deeds are admitted to record, as
provided by law, in which said goods and chattels may be; provided, that
if such filing for docketing be done within five days from the delivery of
the goods and chattels to the vendee, it shall be as valid as to creditors and
purchasers as if such filing for docketing had been done on the day of
such delivery of the goods and chattels; and it shall be the duty of such
clerk to endorse on such contract the words, ‘‘filed and docketed”’ together
with the day and hour of such filing with the signature of the clerk af-
fixed thereto; or, if such goods and chattels consist of locomotives, cars,
or other rolling stock, equipments, or personal property of any description,
to be used in or about the operation of any railroad, operating as a public
service corporation, until and except from the time the said writing is
duly docketed in the clerk’s office of the county or the corporation, where
deeds are admitted to record, as provided by law, wherein the principal
office, in this State, of the company operating such railroad is located,
and a copy of said writing be filed in the office of the State Corporation
Commission, and each locomotive, car, or other piece of rolling stock, be
plainly and permanently marked with the name of the vendor, on both
sides thereof, followed by the word “owner.”

It shall be the duty of the clerk to docket the writings mentioned
herein by setting out the above mentioned particulars of the contract in a
well bound book, to be called the “conditional sales book,” and to index
the same, thereon, or in a separate general index book kept for that pur-
pose, alphabetically, in the name of both the vendor and the vendee, for
which service he may charge a fee of twenty-five cents ; except in case of
public service corporations, he may charge a fee not exceeding fifty cents ;
but no tax shall be charged thereon. The clerk shall, after having docketed
such contract, return the same to the party filing the same for docketing.

All recordations and docketings made, as required by law, as it existed
before the Code of Virginia of nineteen hundred and nineteen became
effective, between the thirteenth day of January, nineteen hundred and
twenty and the nineteenth day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty,
both inclusive, are hereby validated, except where the validity of such
recording or docketing has been or could be attacked or questioned in
litigation now pending; and provided, further, that all recordations and
docketings made in accordance with an act approved March nineteenth,
142 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [va., 1942

nineteen hundred and twenty, entitled an act to amend and re-enact section
fifty-one hundred and eighty-nine of the Code of Virginia, as amended by
an act approved September fifth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, are
hereby validated ; and provided, further, that all recordations and docket-
ings heretofore made of such writings without filing a memorandum
thereof, are hereby validated ; but nothing in this provision shall be con-:
strued as intended to affect vested rights. oo :