Chap. 119. —An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 5786 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to actions for wrongful death, so as to eee
the time within which’ any such action may be instituted. [SB 104}

Approved March 6, 1942

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
fifty-seven hundred and eighty-six of the Code of Virginia, as heretofore
amended, be amended and re-enacted as follows:

- Section 5786. When Suit May Be Maintained on Agcquit of
Death of a Person Caused by Wrongful Act of Another; Limitation.—
Whenever the death of a person shall be caused by the wrongful act,
neglect, or default of any person, or corporation, or of any ship or vessel,
and the act, neglect, or default is such as would (if death had not ensued)
have entitled the party injured to maintain an action, or to proceed in
rem against said ship or vessel, or in personam against the owners thereot
or those having control of her, and to recover damages in respect thereof,
then, and in every such case, the person who, or corporation or ship or
vessel which, would have been liable, if death had not ensued, shall be
liable to an action for damages, or, if a ship or vessel, to a libel in rem,
and her owners or those responsible for her acts or defaults or negligence
to a libel in personam, notwithstanding the death of the person injured,
and although the death shall have been caused under such circumstances,
as amount in law to a felony. And any right of action which may here-
after accrue by reason of such injury done to the person of another shall
survive the death of the wrongdoer, and may be enforced against his
executor or administrator, either by reviving against such personal repre-
sentative a suit which may have been brought against the wrongdoer
himself in his lifetime, or by bringing an original suit against his personal
representative after his death whether or not the death of the wrongdoer
occurred before or after the death of the injured party.

Every action under this section shall be brought within one year
after the death of the injured party, notwithstanding the provisions of
section fifty-eight hundred and eighteen.