Chap. 228.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4987-{ 1 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended, relating to the jurisdiction of trial justices. [S B 155]

Approved March 25, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section forty-nine hundred eighty-seven-f 1 of the Code
of Virginia, as amended, 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 coun-
ties, cities and towns for which he is appointed and of all misdemeanors,
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
recognizance or revoking any suspension of sentence formerly entered
by such trial justice. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection,
the circuit 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 war-
rant, 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 with-
draw an 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
jurisdiction, as the case may be, of any such claim when the amount there-
of exceeds two hundred dollars but does not exceed one thousand dollars;
but when the amount of the claim exceeds the sum of two hundred dol-
lars the trial justice shall, at any time within ten days after the return
date of the process, provided judgment has not been rendered, 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 de-
fense 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 1s
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 account 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 con-
form 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
section the term “amount of claim” shall include any attorney's fee con-
tracted 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 hun-
dred 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.