CHAPTER 61

AN ACT to amend and reenact § 20-104 of the Code of 1950 re-
lating to orders of publication against nonresident defen-
dant, to provide that publication may be had in case of a
suit for annulment of marriage.

[ H 219 }

Approved February 24, 1950

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 20-104 of the Code of 1950 be amended and re-
enacted as follows: ,

§ 20-104. Order of publication against nonresident de-
fendant.—When in a suit for annulment or divorce, either a
vinculo matrimonii or a mensa et thoro, affidavit shall be filed
that the defendant is not a resident of the State of Virginia, or
that diligence has been used by or on behalf of the plaintiff to
ascertain in what county or corporation such defendant is, with-
out effect, an order of publication shall be entered against such
defendant by the court, or by the clerk of the court wherein
such suit is pending, either in term time or vacation, which order
shall state the object of the suit and the grounds thereof, and
the order of publication shall be published as required by law.
No depositions in the suit shall be commenced until at least ten
days shall have elapsed after the order of publication has been
duly published as required by law.

All annulments or divorces heretofore granted in suits in
which the defendant was proceeded against by an order of pub-
lication which required the defendant to appear within ten days
after due publication thereof, and in which depositions were
taken less than fifteen days, but not less than ten days, after
such due publication and in suits in which the defendant was
proceeded against by an order of publication issued on an affi-
davit that diligence had been used by or on behalf of the plaintiff
to ascertain in what county or corporation such defendant was,
without effect, or wherein the order of publication was entered
by the court, are hereby validated and declared to be binding
upon the parties to such suit, when the other proceedings therein
were regular and the annulment or divorce otherwise valid.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from passage.