Chap. 326.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4987-f 1 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to jurisdiction of trial justices. [S 99)

Approved March 29, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section forty-nine hundred eighty-seven-f one of the Code
of Virginia, be amended and re-enacted, as follows: }

Section 4987-f 1. Jurisdiction.—The jurisdiction of such trial justice
shall be as follows:

(a) The trial justice shall be a conservator of the peace within the
limits of the territory for which he is appointed. For the purpose of this
section the term “territory for which he is appointed” shall mean the
county or counties, including towns therein, and any city or cities for
which he is appointed trial justice.

(b) The trial justice shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all
offenses against the ordinances, laws and by-laws of the respective
counties, cities and towns for which he is appointed and of all misde-
manors, except offenses of which jurisdiction is specifically vested in the
State Corporation Commission, arising under laws of the Commonwealth.
‘There shall be an appeal of right to the circuit court of the county or the
corporation court of the city as provided for by the general laws with
reference to appeals from justices of the peace. There shall also be an
appeal of right to the circuit court of the county or corporation court of
the city from any order or judgment of a trial justice forfeiting any recog-
nizance or revoking any suspension of sentence formerly entered by such
trial justice. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, the cir-
cuit court of any county or the corporation court of any city shall have
jurisdiction to try any person for any misdemeanor for which such person
shall be indicted, or may certify such indictment to the trial justice for
trial in which latter case, the indictment shall be in lieu of any warrant,
petition, or other pleading constituting the charge which might otherwise
have been required by law. The trial justice shall also have power to
conduct preliminary examinations of persons charged with crime in the
manner prescribed for justices of the peace by chapter one hundred ninety-
two of the Code. Trial justices shall have the power to accept fines and
costs within ten days if any defendant decides to withdraw on appeal
which has been noted.

(c) The trial justice shall have, within the limits of the territory for
which he is appointed, exclusive original jurisdiction of any claim to
specific personal property or to any debt, fine, or other money, or to
damages for breach of contract or for any injury done to property, real
and personal, or for any injury to the person, which would be recoverable
by action at law or suit in equity, when the amount of such claim does not
exceed the sum of two hundred dollars, and concurrent jurisdiction with
the circuit court of the county or the city court or courts of general juris-
diction, as the case may be, of any such claim when the amount thereof
exceeds two hundred dollars but does not exceed one thousand dollars;
but when the amount of the claim exceeds the sum of two hundred dollars
the trial justice shall, at any time prior to or on the return day of the
process, but not thereafter, upon the application of the defendant and
the filing by him of an affidavit of himself, his agent or attorney that he
has a substantial defense to the plaintiff’s claim, and upon the payment by
him of the costs accrued to the time of application for removal, and the
writ tax as fixed by law and four dollars on account of costs in the court
to which it is removed, remove the case and all the papers thereof, to the
circuit court of the county or to the court of general jurisdiction of the
city, wherein the action was brought; and the trial justice shall promptly
transmit the papers in the case and the writ tax and four dollars on ac-
count of costs, to the clerk of the court to which the case is removed. If
the defendant fails to pay the accrued costs, writ tax and four dollars
for costs in the court to which the case is to be removed, at the time of
his application for removal, the trial justice shall proceed to try the case.

On the trial of the case upon removal, the proceedings shall conform
to the proceedings under section six thousand and forty-six of the Code
of Virginia as now or hereafter amended. For the purpose of this sec-
tion the term “‘amount of claim” shall include any attorney’s fee contracted
for in any instrument sued on, but shall exclude interest and costs in all
cases. The trial justice shall also have jurisdiction of actions of unlawful
detainer or entry in cases provided by section fifty-four hundred and
forty-five.

None of the foregoing provisions of this section shall affect the right
of any person to obtain judgment by confession in any court of record
having jurisdiction thereof, or in the clerk’s office of any such court,
where such right exists under some other statute or act, on any claims for
money, property or damages, regardless of the amount of such claim for
money or damages, or the value of such property.