Chap. 7.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 6, and Section 31 as amended,
of Chapter 309 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1920, approved March
19, 1920, which provided a new charter for the City of Bristol, to provide for
the continuation of the City Manager Form of Government; to provide for a
civil and police justice for the city ; and to declare the existence of an emereen i

Approved October 5, 1942

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
six, and section thirty-one as amended, of chapter three hundred and
nine of the Acts of the General Assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty,
approved March nineteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty, to provide a
new charter for the City of Bristol, be amended and re-enacted, as
follows:

Section 6. Creation of Council.—There is hereby created a council
which shall have full power and authority, except as herein otherwise
provided, to exercise all the powers conferred upon the city, and to pass
all laws and ordinances relating to its municipal affairs, subject to the
Constitution and general law of the State and of this Charter. When the
City of Bristol is determined, in the manner prescribed by law, to be a
city of the first class the existing City Manager Form of Government
consisting of five councilmen elected from the city at large, with power
to appoint a city manager, as defined in the City Charter and in chapter
one hundred and nineteen of the Code of Virginia, as amended, shall
be retained and continued in operation.

Section 31. Civil and Police Justices—(a) The Corporation
Court of said City or the judge thereof in vacation, shall during the
month of August, nineteen hundred and forty-three and each year there-
after appoint some suitable person, preferably a lawyer, as Civil and
Police Justice of said city, whose term of office shall begin the first of
September next after his appointment and continue for a term of one
year and until his successor is appointed and qualified. He shall execute
bond in the penalty of two thousand dollars with surety to be approved
by said court or judge. He shall be paid a salary by the city to be fixed
by the City Council.

(b) Such Civil and Police Justice is empowered to issue all kinds
of warrants, civil and criminal, and he is hereby vested with all the power
and jurisdiction and charged with all the duties within and for the City
of Bristol, and in criminal matters for one mile beyond the corporate
limits thereof, and subject to the right of removal and appeal, which are,
or may hereafter be, conferred upon trial justices by the laws of the
State of Virginia so far as the same may be applicable and not in con-
flict with the provisions hereof. It shall be his duty to enforce the penal
laws and ordinances of the city and in enforcing same he shall have power
to impose such fines and penalties and inflict such punishment as the
laws and ordinances prescribe. He shall have power to enforce the pay-
ment of any fine or penalty imposed by him for violation of City or-
dinances by imprisonment in jail but never for a longer period than that
prescribed by general law in similar cases. Said Civil and Police Justice
shall also be the juvenile and domestic relations judge of said City and his
jurisdiction, powers, authority and duties shall be the same as are now
conferred and imposed upon trial justices by the laws of Virginia and
the amendments thereto or hereafter enacted. There shall be no appeal
for the violation of an ordinance where the penalty imposed is 4 fine not
exceeding ten dollars exclusive of costs.

(c) Fees and costs shall be assessed by the Civil and Police Justice
and shall be collected as provided by the laws of the State of Virginia
relating to trial justices as the same shall now be or hereafter amended.
All fees and costs collected by the said Civil and Police Justice and all
fines collected for violations of all laws and ordinances of the City shall
be paid into the City Treasury for the use and benefit of the City.

(d) The Civil and Police Justice shall keep such books and records
and file and preserve all warrants and papers in the manner as required
of trial justices under the laws of Virginia and the City Council shall
provide all necessary books for the purpose. He shall enter all cases com-
ing before him on said books and shall enter the judgment or the amount
of the fine, and record the decision of the case as soon as he has disposed
of the same. He shall keep a regular account of all fines, forfeitures, and
costs imposed for the violation of City ordinances, and make such re-
ports as may be required by ordinance or resolution of the Council.
Until otherwise prescribed by the council, the Chief of Police shall collect
all fines, forfeitures, fees and costs, and pay over the same monthly or
oftener as required by resolution of the Council.

(e) The Civil and Police Justice shall keep his office and hold his
court in such place as the Council may prescribe, which court shall be
open for the transaction of business every day in the year except Sun-
days, and Christmas and Thanksgiving days.

(f) The Civil and Police Justice shall perform any other duties
that may be prescribed and assigned to him by the Council not incon-
sistent with the Constitution and laws of this State.

(g) The Corporation Court, or the Judge thereof in vacation, shall
appoint some suitable person, preferably a lawyer, as substitute civil and
trial justice to act in the event the Civil and Trial Justice is absent, sick
or disqualified. Such substitute may in the discretion of the court be re-
quired to give bond, and if so, the court shall fix the penalty of the bond
and approve the surety. Such appointee shall continue in office only at the
pleasure of the Court and the Court may revoke any such appointment
and make another. Such substitute civil and police justice shall receive
for his services such a per diem compensation as the Council may pre-
scribe, payable out of the City Treasury, and which compensation, may in
the discretion of the council be deducted from the salary of the regular
Civil and Police Justice.

(h) The City Council may in its discretion appoint a clerk for the
Court of the Civil and Police Justice, which clerk shall hold office during
the pleasure of the Council, whose duty it shall be to assist the Civil and
Police Justice in keeping the books and records of the office. Said clerk
shall execute bond, in such penalty as the Council shall prescribe, before
the Clerk of the Corporation Court with surety to be approved by him.
Said Clerk of the Civil and Police Justice Court shall have full power and
authority to issue any of the criminal or civil processes of said civil and
police justice, whether original, mesne, or final, and shall also have full
power and authority to issue warrants of arrest and search warrants in
criminal cases as well as any criminal or civil writ or process which a
justice of the peace is now or may hereafter be authorized and empowered
by law to issue. Said Clerk shall also have authority to admit to bail, in
the manner prescribed by law, any person charged with a crime which the
Civil and Police Justice could under the same circumstances admit to
bail. Said Clerk shall collect all lawful fees and costs which shall be paid
to the city. He shall be paid by the City a salary to be fixed by the Council.
The Council may authorize said clerk to receive and charge him with the
duty to collect and pay into the City Treasury all fines, forfeitures, fees
and costs due the City at such intervals as they may direct. Said Clerk
shall make all such detailed reports concerning same as the Council shall
prescribe. Said Clerk shall perform such other duties as the council may
prescribe. The City Council may in its discretion also appoint a deputy
clerk for said office whose powers and duties shall be the same as those
prescribed for the Clerk, and require said deputy to give bond accordingly.

(1) The incumbent Police Justice shall act as Civil and Police
Justice until the expiration of his present term, September first, nineteen
hundred and forty-three.

2. Be it further enacted, That this act shall not become effective
unless and until it shall be determined, in the manner prescribed by law,
that the City of Bristol is a city of the first class. An emergency exists and
when it 1s determined in the manner prescribed by law that the City of
Bristol is a city of the first class thereupon this act shall become effective
and thereafter be in full force and effect.