CHAPTER 333

Act to amend and reenact §§ 6-422, 8-1.2 as amended, 8-44,
8-46.1, 8-51, 8-67.2, 8-67.4 as amended, 8-74, 8-76 as amended,
8-96 through 8-99, 8-102, 8-105, 8-106, 8-109, 8-114, 8-115, 8-116,
8-118, 8-188, 8-184, 8-152, 8-158, 8-160, 8-161, 8-165, 8-166, 8-211.
8-212, 8-220, 8-238, 8-268, 8-804, 8-847, 8-886, 8-455, 8-487, 8-490,
8-509, 8-513, 8-514, 8-517, 8-519 through 8-522, 8-524, 8-527, 8-547,
8-557, 8-567, 8-579, 8-629, 8-632, 8-638, 8-640, 8-652, 8-791, 8-792,
8-796, 8-800 through 8-803, 8-805, 8-814, 8-818, 8-821, 8-825, 8-827,
8-828, 8-829, 8-867, 16-19 as amended, 58-1014, and 58-1016, of the
Code of Virginia, relating to civil remedies and procedure. H

[H 826

Approved April 1, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

That §§ 6-422, 8-1.2 as amended, 8-44, 8-46.1, 8-51, 8-67.2,
.4 as amended, 8-74, 8-76 as amended, 8-96 through 8-99, 8-102,
8-105, 8-106, 8-109, 8-114, 8-115, 8-116, 8-118, 8-133, 8-134, 8-152, 8-153,
8-160, 8-161, 8-165, 8-166, 8-211, 8-212, 8-220, 8-238, 8-268, 8-304, 8-347,
8-386, 8,455, 8-487, 8-490, 8-509, 8-513, 8-514, 8-517, 8-519 through 8-522,
8-524, 8-527, 8-547, 8-557, 8-567, 8-579, 8-629, 8-632, 8-638, 8-640, 8-652,
8-791, 8-792, 8-796, 8-800 through 8-803, 8-805, 8-814, 8-818, 8-821, 8-825,
8-827, 8-828, 8-829, 8-867, 58-1014, and 58-1016 of the Code of Virginia
be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 6-422. Upon any note, check, bill of exchange, or other instru-
ment which is negotiable, whether the same be payable in or out of this
State, an action * may be maintained and judgment given jointly against
all liable by virtue thereof, whether drawer, indorsers, or acceptors, or
against any one or any intermediate number of them for the principal
and charges of protest if the same shall have been protested, with interest

pnereon from the date of protest, and in case of such bills for damages
also.

§ 8-1.2. The Virginia Code Commission is directed to include the
rules adopted by the Supreme Court of Appeals, effective February one,
nineteen hundred fifty, and all subsequent amendments * of the Code of
Virginia, and cause them to be properly indexed and annotated.

The rules so adopted and as from time to time amended shall super-
sede all statutory provisions in conflict therewith, provided that no such
rule shall operate to restrict or abridge any right provided by § 30-5 of
the Code of Virginia.

§ 8-44. Process from any court, whether original, mesne, or final,
may be directed to the sheriff or sergeant of any county or city. * If it
appear to be duly served and good in other respects, it shall be deemed
valid although not directed to any officer, or if directed to an officer,
though executed by some other person. It shall * be returnable * to * the
clerk’s office * within such time as provided by statute or rule of court
except that a summons for a witness shall be returnable to whatever day
his attendance is desired, and process awarded in court may be returnable
as the court * may direct, and the return day on * the summons * or gar-
nishment may be according to the provisions of § 8-442.

§ 8-46.1. Upon the institution of every proceeding, whether in a
court of record or not of record, at law or in equity, the plaintiff shall
furnish * to the clerk or other issuing officer in writing with particularity
the full name and last known address of each defendant and if unable to
furnish such name and address he shall furnish such salient facts as are
calculated to identify with reasonable certainty such defendant. The
clerk or other official whose function it is to issue any such process shall
note in the record or in the papers the address or other identifying facts
furnished and same shall be preserved in the same manner and for the
same length of time as the record or papers are preserved. If a judg-
ment be entered against any defendant as to whom the requirements of
this section have not been complied with, it shall nevertheless be valid
for all purposes as far as the failure to comply with such requirements
are concerned.

§ 8-51. A notice, no particular mode of serving which is prescribed,
may be served by delivering a copy thereof in writing to the party in
person; or, if he or she be not found at his or her usual place of abode, by
delivering such copy and giving information of its purport to any person
found there, who is a member of his or her family, other than a temporary
sojourner, or guest, and above the age of sixteen years; or if * he * or
she, * or any such person be not found there, by leaving such copy posted
at the front door of such place of abode.

§ 8-67.2. Service of such process or notice shall be made by leaving
a copy of the process or notice, together with a fee of three dollars, plus
one dollar additional for each defendant over one to be thus served, in the
hands of the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles or in his office in the city
of Richmond, Virginia, and such service shall be sufficient upon the non-
resident, provided that notice of such service and a copy of the process or
notice are forthwith sent by registered mail, with registered delivery
receipt requested, by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles to the defen-
dant or defendants and an affidavit of compliance herewith by the Com-
missioner, or some one designated by him for that purpose and having
snowledge of such compliance, shall be forthwith filed with the * papers
in the action.

The mailing required by this section shall be to the last known post-
office of the defendant or defendants but if there is left with the Commis-
sioner, along with the notice of process an affidavit of the plantiff that he
does not know and is unable to ascertain any postoffice address of the
defendant or defendants, service of the notice or process, shall be valid
without the mailing otherwise required by this section. ,

§ 8-67.4. (1) Any nonresident of this Commonwealth, being the
operator or owner of any aircraft, who shall accept the rights and privi-
leges extended by the laws of this Commonwealth to nonresident operators
and owners, of operating an aircraft, or of having the same operated over
or above the land and waters of the Commonwealth of Virginia, or of
using aviation facilities located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, or
both, shall, by such operation of aircraft over or above the land and waters
of the Commonwealth of Virginia, or by such use of aviation facilities,
make and constitute the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia as
his, her, its, or their true and lawful attorney and agent upon whom may
be served all lawful process or notice upon or to such nonresident in any
civil suit, action or proceeding against such nonresident instituted in the
courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia against such operator or owner
of such aircraft arising out of, or by reason of, any accident or collision
occurring within or above the Commonwealth, in which such aircraft is
involved, and such acceptance or operation shall be a signification of the
agreement of such nonresident that any such process or notice to such
nonresident which is served pursuant to this act shall be of the same legal
force and effect as if served upon such nonresident personally in the
county or corporation in which such accident or collision occurred or in
which a resident defendant, if any, resides.

Such nonresident owner or operator of an aircraft which is involved
in an accident or collision in this Commonwealth shall likewise be deemed
to have consented that the appointment of the Secretary of the Common-
wealth or his successor in office, as the true and lawful attorney of such
nonresident upon whom may be served all lawful process and notice pur-
suant to the provisions of law pertaining thereto, shall be irrevocable and
binding upon the executor, administrator or other personal representative
of such nonresident. Where such nonresident has died prior to the com-
mencement of an action against such nonresident pursuant to the pro-
visions of law pertaining thereto, service of process or notice shall be
made upon the executor, administrator or other personal representative
of such nonresident in the same manner and on the same notice as is pro-
vided in the case of such nonresident owner or operator. Where an action
has been duly commenced against such nonresident owner or operator,
pursuant to the provisions of law pertaining thereto and such nonresident
dies after the commencement of such action, the action shall continue and
shall be irrevocable and binding upon the executor, administrator or
other personal representative of such nonresident, with such additional
notice of the pendency of the action as the court deems proper.

(2) Service of such process or notice shall be made by leaving a
copy of the process or notice, together with a fee of three dollars, plus one
dollar additional for each defendant over one to be thus served, in the
hands of the Secretary of the Commonwealth or in his office in the city of
Richmond, Virginia, and such service shall be sufficient upon the nonresi-
dent, provided that notice of such service and a copy of the process or
notice are forthwith sent by registered mail, with registered delivery
receipts requested, by the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the defendant
or defendants at such defendant’s or defendants’ last known post office
address, and an affidavit of compliance herewith by the Secretary of the
Commonwealth or some one designated by him for that purpose and having
knowledge of such compliance, shall be forthwith filed with the * papers
in the action.

(3) This section shall be construed to extend the right of service of
process or notice upon nonresidents and shall not be construed as limiting
any provision for the service of process now or hereafter existing.

4) The term “nonresident” includes any person who, though resi-
dent when the aircraft accident or collision occurred, has been continuously
outside the State for at least sixty days preceding the day on which notice
or process is left with the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

§ 8-74. Personal service of a * process may be made by any person
not a party to or otherwise interested in the subject matter in controversy
on a nonresident defendant out of this State and such service shall have
the same effect, and no other, as an order of publication duly executed, or
the publication of a copy of process or of notice under this chapter, as
the case may be. In such case the return shall be made under oath, and
shall show the time and place of such service, and that the defendant so
served is a nonresident of this State.

§ 8-76. Any such notice as is mentioned in §§ 8-51 and 8-54 to a
person not residing in Virginia may be served by the publication thereof
once a week for four successive weeks, in a newspaper published in the city
or county where the proceedings, about which the notice is given, are to
be held, or if no newspaper is published in such city or county, then in a
newspaper published in some convenient city or county, provided that,
when the defendant has been legally served according to any of the pro-
visions of § 8-51 and the provisions of § 8-54 with a * subpoena in
chancery to commence a suit for divorce and he or she or the plaintiff:

(1) Shall thereafter become a nonresident, or

(2) Remove from the county or city in which the suit is pending,
if a resident thereof, or in which he or she resided at the time of the
institution of the suit, or was served with process, without having filed
with the clerk of the court where the suit is pending a written statement
of his or her intended future place of residence, and a like statement of
subsequent changes of residence,

(3) Or when, after such written statement has been filed with the
clerk, notice shall have been served upon him or her, at the last place of
residence given in the written statement, according to the provisions of
§§ 8-51 and 8-54. .

Depositions may be taken, testimony heard and orders and decrees
entered without an order of publication as heretofore provided in this
section; provided that if any such absent party has an attorney of record
in such suit, notice shall be served on such attorney as provided by § 8-311.

§ 8-96. No action or suit shall abate or be defeated by the nonjoinder
or misjoinder of parties, plaintiff or defendant, but whenever such mis-
joinder or nonjoinder shall be made to appear by affidavit or otherwise,
new parties may be added and parties misjoined may be dropped by order
of the court at any stage of the cause as the ends of justice may require;
* but a new party shall not be added unless it shall be made to appear that
he is a resident of this State or is subject to service of process therein, and
the place of such residence or place of service be stated with convenient
certainty, nor shall a new party be added if it shall appear that by reason
of Chapter 1 of Title 11 or Chapter 2 of this title the action could not be
maintained against him. Nothing in this section shall be construed to
permit the joinder, or addition as a new party, of any insurance company
on account of the issuance to any party to a cause of any policy or contract
of liability insurance, or on account of the issuance by any such company
of any policy or contract of liability insurance for the benefit of or that
will inure to the benefit of any party to any cause.

§ 8-97. No plea in abatement for a misnomer shall be allowed in any
action, but in case wherein, but for this section, a misnomer would have
been pleadable in abatement, the * pleading may, on the motion of the
plaintiff or defendant, and on affidavit of the right name, be amended by
inserting the right name.

§ 8-98. No plea in abatement * shall be received unless it be veri-
fied by oath.

§ 8-99. The form of demurrer or joinder in demurrer may be as
follows: “The defendant (or plaintiff) says that the * motion for judg-
ment (or other pleading) is not (or is) sufficient in law’; provided, that
all demurrers shall be in writing, except in criminal cases. In civil cases
the court on motion of any party thereto shall, or of its own motion may,
require the grounds of demurrer relied on to be stated specifically in the
demurrer; and no grounds shall be considered other than those so stated,
but either party may amend his demurrer by stating additional grounds,
or otherwise, at any time before the trial.

§ 8-102. No action shall abate for want of form, where the * motion
for judgment sets forth sufficient matter of substance for the court to
proceed upon the merits of the cause.

§ 8-105. It shall not be necessary, in any action, to aver that the
cause of action arose, or that the matter is, within the jurisdiction of the
court, or to make profert of any * instrument. Buta defendant may have
oyer in like manner as if profert were made.

§ 8-106. It shall not be necessary in any * pleading to set forth
the place in which any contract was made, or act done, unless when, from
the nature of the case, the place is material or traversable, and then the
allegation as to deed, note, or other writing bearing date at any place may
be that it was made at such place, or as to any other act may be according
to the fact, without averring or suggesting that it was at or in the county
or corporation in which the action is brought, unless it was in fact therein.

§ 8-109. On a demurrer, unless it be to a plea in abatement, the
court shall not regard any defect or imperfection in the * pleading, whether
it has been heretofore deemed mispleading or insufficient pleading or not,
unless there be omitted something so essential to the action or defense that
judgment, according to law and the very right of the cause, cannot be
given.

§ 8-114. When * any pleading * alleges that any person made,
indorsed, assigned, or accepted any writing, not under seal, no proof of
the handwriting shall be required, unless it be denied by an affidavit
accompanying the plea putting it in issue.

§ 8-115. When * any pleading alleges that any person or corpora-
tion, at a stated time, owned, operated, or controlled any property or in-
strumentality, no proof of the fact alleged shall be required unless an
affidavit be filed with the pleading putting it in issue, denying specifically
and with particularity that such property or instrumentality was, at the
time alleged, so owned, operated, or controlled.

§ 8-116. When plaintiffs or defendants sue or are sued as partners,
and their names are set forth in the * pleading, or when plaintiffs or
defendants sue or are sued as a corporation, it shall not be necessary to
prove the fact of the partnership or incorporation unless with the pleading
which puts the matter in issue there be filed an affidavit denying such
partnership or incorporation. . .

8-118. A defendant, on whom a valid process summoning him to
answer appears to have been served, shall not take advantage of any defect
in the writ or return, or any variance * between the process and pleading
pursuant to which the process was issued, unless the same be pleaded in
abatement. And in every such case the court may permit the * process
or * pleading to be amended so as to correct the variance, and permit the
return to be amended upon such terms as to it shall seem just. If the
process be not a valid process, the suit or action shall be dismissed upon
motion of the defendant, who may appear specially for that purpose, but
if it was dismissed by reason of the failure of the clerk to issue a valid
process, the plaintiff may renew his suit or action without the payment of
another writ tax.

§ 8-133. Where the * motion for judgment or bill shows on its face
proper matter for the jurisdiction of the court no exception for want of
such jurisdiction shall be allowed unless it be taken by plea in abatement.

8-134. Any party in any action, at any stage of the pleading, may
plead as many several matters, whether of law or fact, as he shall think
necessary, and the defendant may file pleas in bar at the same time with
pleas in abatement, or thereafter within * the time * prescribed by the
Rules of Court or such additional time as may be allowed by the trial court.
But the issues on the pleas in abatement shall be first tried, and if such
issues be found against the defendant, he may, nevertheless, make any
other defenses he may have to the action.

§ 8-152. When the party whose powers cease is defendant. the
plaintiff may continue his suit against him to final judgment or decree;
but he shall not, at law, proceed in the same action against such defendant
and his successor; nor shall he, in equity, proceed against both upon his
previous bill, unless * after motion the court orders that the suit proceed
against the former party * as well as the successor.

§ 8-153. If the committee, personal representative, heirs, or devisees
of the plaintiff or appellant who was a party, or of the decedent whose
personal representative was plaintiff or appellant, shall not make * a
motion * for substitution of parties under the applicable Rules of Court
at or before the second term of the court next after that at which there
may have been a suggestion on the record of the fact making such * mo-
tion proper, the suit of such plaintiff or appellant shall be discontinued,
unless good cause be shown to the contrary.

§ 8-160. The clerk of every court having jurisdiction of * civil *
actions shall, when any * action is commenced, or any notice of motion,
petition, appeal, or warrant removed to such court, is filed, and the re-
quired writ tax and fees thereon paid, enter the same in a substantial, well
bound loose leaf book to be known as the “current law docket”. Each
case shall be entered on a separate sheet, on which shall be entered:

(1) The names of the parties,

(2) The short style of the suit,

(3) The names of the attorneys,

(4) The nature of the suit or action,

(5) The date docketed,

( 6) The date of the issuance of the process, *

(8) A memorandum of the service of the process, and
*

(10) A memorandum of the orders and proceedings in the case,

Or so much thereof as may be applicable to the case. And the clerk
may enter the clerk’s fees in the case on such docket instead of in the fee
book prescribed by § 14-165.
§ 8-161. Cases * which have not matured and which are not ready
for hearing, and cases which have matured and are ready for hearing
shall be kept in separate groups or volumes, and all cases in the first named
group or volume shall be transferred to the second named group or volume
as soon as the same have matured and are ready for hearing.

§ 8-165. The clerk of every court having jurisdiction of chancery
cases shall, when any chancery case is commenced in his court, and the
required writ tax and fees thereon paid, enter the same in a substantial,
well bound loose leaf book to be known as the “current chancery docket’.
Each case shall be entered on a separate sheet, on which shall be entered:

(1) The names of the parties,

(2) The short style of the suit,

(3) The names of the attorneys,

(4) The nature of the suit,

(5) The date docketed,

(6) The date of the issuance of the process, *

(8) A memorandum of the service of the process, and
*

(10) A memorandum of the orders and proceedings in the case,

Or so much thereof as may be applicable to the case. And the clerk
may enter the clerk’s fees in the case on such docket instead of in the fee
book prescribed by § 14-165.

§ 8-166. Cases * which have not matured and are not ready for
hearing, and cases which have matured and are ready for hearing shall
be kept in separate groups or volumes, and all cases in the first named
group or volume shall be transferred to the second named group or volume
as soon as the same have matured and are ready for hearing.

§ 8-211. * In an action at law, when an issue of fact is joined, and
either party desire it, or, when in the opinion of the court, it is proper, a
jury shall be impaneled, unless the case be one in which the recovery is
limited to an amount not greater than twenty dollars, exclusive of interest.

§ 8-212. The circuit court of any county and the circuit, corporation
or other court of any corporation may, in any case before it other than such
a chancery case as is mentioned in § 8-214, have an issue tried or an
inquiry of damages made by a jury, and determine all questions concerning
the legality of evidence and other matters of law which may arise, pro-
vided, however, that where the defendant is in default, the procedure shall
be governed by the applicable Rules of Court.

§ 8-220. A party shall not be allowed to suffer a nonsuit unless he
do so before the jury retire from the bar or before the suit or action has
been submitted to the court for decision or before a motion to strike the
evidence has been sustained by the court. And after a nonsuit no new
proceeding on the same cause of action shall be had in any court other
than that in which the nonsuit was taken, unless that court is without
jurisdiction, or not a proper venue, or other good cause be shown for
proceeding in another court.

§ 8-238. The plaintiff may accept such sum either in full satisfac-
tion, and then have judgment for his costs, or in part satisfaction, and
reply to the * allegations of the defendant’s pleadings, and, if issue thereon
be found for the defendant, judgment shall be given for the defendant, and
he shall recover his costs.

§ 8-268. Any photograph or microphotograph of any record or paper
photographed or microphotographed as provided in §§ 2-6 and 2-7 and
any photographic, microphotographic or photostatic copy of any such
photograph or microphotograph, if duly authenticated by the head of the
respective administrative department, division, institution or agency, shall
be admissible as evidence, in any court of this Commonwealth, for any
purpose for which the record or paper so photographed or microphoto-
graphed might have been introduced, and with like effect.

§ 8-304. In any pending case the deposition of a witness, whether
a party to the suit or not, may be taken in this State, after the * motion
for judgement or bill has been filed, by a justice of the peace, notary or
commissioner in chancery; and, if certified under his hand, may be re-
ceived without proof of the signature to such certificate.

§ 8-347. * No judgment by default on a scire facias * shall become
final within two weeks after the service of * process.

§ 8-386. Every judgment for money rendered in this State by any
state or federal court, other than by confession in vacation, shall be a lien
on all the real estate of or to which the defendant in the judgment is or
becomes possessed or entitled, at or after the date of the judgment, or if it
was rendered in court, at or after the commencement of the term at which
it was so rendered, if the cause was in such condition that a judgment
might have been rendered on the first day of the term. But if from the
nature of the case judgment could not have been rendered at the com-
mencement of the term, it shall be a lien only on or after the date on which
the judgment or decree is rendered and not from the commencement of
the term; provided, however, that the foregoing shall not prevent the lien
of a judgment or decree from relating back to the first day of the term
merely because the case is set for trial or hearing on a later day of the
term, if the case was matured and ready for hearing at the commence-
ment of the term. * A judgment by confession in vacation shall also be a
lien upon such real estate, but only from the time of day at which it is
confessed. If more than one judgment is confessed in vacation by the
same defendant, they shall have priority as among themselves in the order
with respect to the time when they are respectively confessed, unless other-
wise directed by the defendant, and the clerk shall enter such time on the
margin of his order book. This section is qualified by § 34-24.

§ 8-455. No bond for the forthcoming of property shall be taken:

(1) On an execution of a forthcoming bond;

(2) On an execution on a judgment against (a) a treasurer, sheriff,
sergeant, constable, coroner, or a deputy of any of them, or a surety or
personal representative of any such officer or deputy, for money received
by any such officer or deputy. by virtue of his office, (b) any such officer
or his personal representative, in favor of a surety of such officer for
money paid or a judgment rendered for a default in office, or (c) a deputy
of any such officer, or his surety or personal representative, in favor of
his principal or the personal representative of such principal, for money
paid or a judgment rendered for a default in office; or * *

(4) On any other execution on which the clerk is required by law
to endorse that “no security is to be taken’’.

§ 8-487. No judgment or decree shall be arrested or reversed:

(1) For the appearance of either party, being under the age of
twenty-one years, by attorney, if the verdict, where there is one, or the
judgment or decree, be for him and not to his prejudice;

(2) For want of warrant of attorney;

*

(4) For any informality in the entry of the judgment or decree by
the clerk;

(5) For the omission of the name of any juror;

(6) Because it may not appear that the verdict was rendered by the
number of jurors required by law;

(7) For any defect, imperfection, or omission in the pleadings, which
could not be regarded on demurrer; or

(8) For any other defect, imperfection, or omission in the record.
or for any error committed on the trial when it plainly appears from the
record and the evidence given at the trial that the parties have had a
fair trial on the merits and substantial justice has been reached.

For the purposes of this section, the trial] judge shall, upon the
request of either party, give a certificate of the facts proved, or, if this
be not practicable, of the evidence adduced at the trial, which certificate
when signed by the judge shall be a part of the record. Such certificate,
however, shall not be given except during the term at which the evidence
was adduced, or within sixty days thereafter. If given in vacation such
certificate shall be certified by the judge to the clerk of his court, and
the latter shall file it with the papers in the cause. The certificate shall
be prepared and tendered by the party requesting it, or his counsel.

§ 8-490. * The clerk of * the Supreme Court of Appeals shall issue
a summons against ‘the parties interested in appeals and writs of error
or supersedeas, other than the petitioners, that they may be heard, and
also issue any supersedeas which may be awarded. When the Common-
wealth is defendant in error, process shall be served on the Attorney
General. *

§ 8-509. * A civil action * may be maintained upon any note or
writing by which there is a promise, undertaking, or obligation to pay
money, if the same be signed by the party who is to be charged thereby,
or his agent. The action may also be maintained on any such note or
writing for any past due instalment of a debt payable in instalments,
although other instalments thereof be not due. * *

§ 8-513. In an action on an annuity bond, or a bond for money pay-
able by instalments, when there are further payments of the annuity, or
further instalments to become due after the commencement of the action,
or in any other action for a penalty for the nonperformance of any condi-
tion, covenant, or agreement, the plaintiff may assign as many breaches
as he may think fit, and shall, in his * motion for judgment or scire facias
assign the specific breaches for which the action is brought, or the scire
facias is sued out. The jury impaneled in any such action shall ascertain
the damages sustained, or the sum due, by reason of the breaches assigned,
and judgment shall be entered for the penalty, to be discharged by the
payment of what is so ascertained, and such further sums as may be
afterwards assessed, or be found due upon a scire facias assigning a
further breach. Such scire facias may be sued out, from time to time,
by any person injured, against the defendant or his personal representa-
tive, and for what may be assessed or found due upon the new breach
or breaches assigned, execution may be awarded.

§ 8-514. Upon all contracts hereafter made by more than one per-
son, whether joint only or joint and several, an action * may be main-
tained and judgment rendered against all liable thereon, or any one or
any intermediate number, and if, in an action on any contract heretofore
or hereafter made, more than one person be sued and process be served
on only a part of them, the plaintiff may dismiss or proceed to judgment
as to any So served, and either discontinue as to the others, or from time
to time as the process is served, proceed to judgment against them until
judgment be obtained against all. Such dismissal or discontinuance of
the action as to any defendant shall not operate as a bar to any subse-
quent action which may be brought against him for the same cause.

§ 8-517. * A civil action * may be maintained on any past due lost
bond, note, or other written evidence of debt, and if judgment be ren-
dered for the plaintiff, there shall be entered as a part of the judgment
that the plaintiff is not to have the benefit thereof, nor be allowed to
enforce it by execution or otherwise, unless and until he shall have first
entered into bond before the court or the clerk therein in such penalty
as is prescribéd in the order awarding the judgment, and with condition
to indemnify and save harmless the defendant or defendants from all loss
or damage he or they may sustain or incur by reason of having to pay
in whole or in part such past due lost bond, note, or other written evi-
dence of debt to some other person than the plaintiff. The indemni-
fying bond hereinbefore required shall be payable to the defendant or
defendants, and shall be filed in the clerk’s office of the court in which
the judgment is rendered.

§ 8-519. If any person have a claim, legal or equitable, to any specific
personal property, or a like claim to any debt, whether such debt be due
and payable or not, or to damages for breach of any contract, express or
implied, or to damages for a wrong, and such claim exceed twenty dollars,
exclusive of interest, he may sue out an attachment therefor on any one
or more of the grounds stated in the following section, except that if the
claim be for a debt not due and payable no attachment shall be sued out
when the only ground for the attachment is that the defendant, or one
of the defendants against whom the claim is, is a foreign corporation, or
is not a resident of this State, and has estate, or has debts owing to such
defendant, within this State.

§ 8-520. It shall be sufficient ground for an attachment that the
principal defendant or one of the principal defendants:

(1) Is a foreign corporation, or is not a resident of this State, and
has estate or has debts owing to such defendant within the county or
city in which the attachment is, or that such defendant being a non-
resident of this State, is entitled to the benefit of any lien, legal or equita-
ble, on property, real or personal, within the county or city in which the
attachment is. The word “estate’’, as herein used, shall include all rights
or interests of a pecuniary nature which can be protected, enforced, or
proceeded against in courts of law or equity;

(2) Is removing or is about to remove out of this State with intent
to change his domicile;

(3) Intends to remove, or is removing, or has removed the specific
property sued for, or his own estate, or the proceeds of the sale of his
property, or a material part of such estate or proceeds, out of this State
so that there will probably not be therein effects of such debtor sufficient
to satisfy the claim when judgment is obtained therefor should only the
ordinary process of law be used to obtain the judgment;

) Is converting, is about to convert or has converted his property
of whatever kind, or some part thereof, into money, securities or evidences
of debt with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud his creditors;

(5) Has assigned or disposed of or is about to assign or dispose of
his estate, or some part thereof, with intent to hinder, delay or defraud
his creditors;

(6) Has absconded or is about to abscond from the State or has
dc range himself to the injury of his creditors, or is a fugitive from
justice.

The intent mentioned in clauses (4) and (5) above may be stated
either in the alternative or conjunctive.

§ 8-521. The jurisdiction of attachments under this chapter shall
be in the circuit courts of the counties and in the circuit and such city
courts of the cities as have civil jurisdiction in common law cases, and
the * trial or hearing of the issues, except as otherwise provided, shall be
the same, as near aS may be, as in personal actions.

§ 8-522. The venue of attachments shall be determined with refer-
ence to the principal defendant and those jointly liable with him, as
though they were the sole defendant; and as to them it shall be the same
as in actions at law when the right of action has accrued; or the attach-
ment may be issued in the county or city in which the principal defendant
has estate or has debts owing to him.

§ 8-524. Every attachment, except an attachment for rent, shall be
commenced by a petition filed in the clerk’s office, whether the court be
In Session or not, or before a justice of the peace, trial justice or clerk
of a trial justice of the county or city in which venue is given by § 8-522.
If it is sought to recover specific personal property the petition shall state
the nature and estimated value thereof, the character of estate therein
claimed by the plaintiff, and what sum, if any, the plaintiff claims he is
entitled to recover for its detention. If it is sought to recover a debt or
damages for a breach of contract, express or implied, or damages for a
wrong, the petition shall set forth the plaintiff’s claim with such certainty
as will give the adverse party reasonable notice of the particulars thereof,
and shall state a sum certain which, at the least, the plaintiff is entitled to,
or ought to recover, and if the claim be for a debt not then due and pay-
able, at what time or times the same will become due and payable. The
certainty required of * a motion for judgment under Rule of Court 3:
18 (d) shall be sufficient. * The petition shall also set forth the existence
of one or more of the grounds of attachment mentioned in § 8-520, and
shall ask for an attachment against the specific personal property men-
tioned in the petition, or against the estate, real and personal, of one or
more of the principal defendants, or against both the specific personal
property and the estate of such defendants, real or personal. The petition
shall be sworn to by the plaintiff or his agent, or some person cognizant
of the facts therein stated.

§ 8-527. Any attachment issued under this chapter may be directed
to the sheriff, sergeant or constable of any county or city. Except when
otherwise provided, it shall be returnable to a day of a term of the court
not more than * thirty days from its date of issuance nor less than ten
days from the date of service, or, if the next term of court be more than *
thirty days from the date of issuance, then to a day of the next succeeding
term of court not less than ten days from the date of service; provided,
however, that no attachment shall be discontinued or defeated by the
adjournment of the term before the return day thereof, but on such return
day it shall stand continued to the first day of the next term.

§ 8-547. The officer levying the attachment shall show in his return
the time, date and manner of the service, or execution thereof, on each
person and parcel of property, and also give a list and description of the
property, if any, * levied on under the attachment.

§ 8-557. If the principal defendant has not appeared generally, nor
been served with process, and the sole ground of jurisdiction of the court
is the right to sue out the attachment, and this right be decided against
the petitioner, the petition shall be dismissed at the costs of the petitioner;
but if the plaintiff’s claim be due at the hearing, and the court would
otherwise have jurisdiction of an action against such defendant for the
cause set forth in the petition, and such defendant has appeared gen-
erally, or been served with process, it shall retain the cause and proceed
to final judgment as in other actions at law.

§ 8-567. If an attachment issued under the preceding section be for
the sum of twenty dollars or more, it shall be returnable to * a day of the
* term of the * court * having jurisdiction of the subject matter, * not
more than thirty days from the date of its issuance and the proceedings
thereafter shall conform to the provisions of this chapter applicable to
attachments in court.

§ 8-579. In all such actions and suits in which the court has juris-
diction to hear and determine the cause, exclusive of the jurisdiction by
this chapter conferred, the action or suit may be brought in any county
or corporation in which it could be brought when no declaration of right
or determination of a question of construction is sought. When the sole
jurisdiction of the court to hear and determine the cause is that conferred
by this chapter, such action or suit may be brought in any county or
corporation :

(1) Wherein any of the defendants reside; .

(2) If a corporation be a defendant, wherein its principal office 1s
or wherein its president, or other chief officer resides; _

(3) If it be to declare a right under or determine a question of
construction of a policy of insurance either upon property or life, wherein
(a) the property insured was situated at the date of the policy or (b)
the person whose life was insured resides at the time suit is brought or
(c) such person resided at the date of the policy;

(3a) If it be to recover indemnity under a policy of accident and
health insurance, either or both, where (a) the policy holder resided at
the time of the happening for which indemnity is sought or (6) where
the policy holder resided on the date of the policy;

(4) If it be to declare a right to, in or with reference to land or other
real estate, or to construe any instrument of title to or contract concern-
ing land or other real estate, wherein such land or other real estate or
any part thereof may be;

(5) If it concern a will, wherein such will was admitted to probate;

(6) If it be against a foreign corporation, wherein its statutory
agent resides ;

(7) If it be against a defendant who resides without this State,
wherein he may be found and served with process; and

(8) If it be a cause to which subdivisions (8), (9) or (10) of § 8-38
are applicable, wherein it is provided by such subdivisions of such sec-
tion it shall be brought. a

§ 8-629. Where there is pending any action * by an infant plaintiff
against a tort feasor for a personal injury, any parent, or guardian of
such infant, who is entitled to recover from the same tort feasor the
expenses of curing or attempting to cure such infant from the result of.
such personal injury, may bring an action * against such tort feasor for
such expenses, in the same court where such infant’s case is pending, and
upon motion of any party to either case, made to the court at least one
week before the trial, both cases shall be tried together at the same time
as parts of the same transaction. But separate verdicts when there is a
jury trial shall be rendered in each case, and the judgment shall distinctly
separate the decision and judgment in each case.

In the event of the cases being carried to the Supreme Court of Ap-
peals of Virginia, which may be done if there be the jurisdictional amount
in either case, they shall both be carried together as one case and record,
but the Supreme Court of Appeals shall clearly specify the decision in
each case, separating them in the decision to the extent necessary to do
justice among the parties.

§ 8-632. In any civil action against the publisher, owner, editor,
reporter or employee of any newspaper, Magazine or periodical under
§ 8-630, or for libel or defamation, because of any article, statement or
other matter contained in any such newspaper, magazine or periodical,
the defendant, whether punitive damages be sought or not, may introduce
in evidence in mitigation of general and punitive damages, or either, but
not of actual pecuniary damages, all the circumstances of the publication,
including the source of the information, its character as affording reason-
able ground of reliance, any prior publication elsewhere of similar pur-
port, the lack of negligence or malice on the part of the defendant, the
good faith of the defendant in such publication, or that apology or retrac-
tion, if any, was made with reasonable promptness and fairness; provided
that the defendant may introduce in evidence only such circumstances and
to the extent set forth in his or its grounds of defense. *

§ 8-638. The verdict, if there be one, and the judgment of the court
shall in all cases specify the amount or the proportion to be received by
each of the beneficiaries, if any such there be. No verdict, however, shal
be set aside for failure to make such specification, but if the jury has beer
discharged their failure to make the specification at the term at which
the verdict is rendered shall be corrected by the trial court at any time
before judgment is entered, and for this purpose it may hear evidence if
deemed necessary. The amount recovered in any such action shall be paid
to the personal representative and after the payment of costs and reason-
able attorney’s fees shall be distributed by such personal representative
to the surviving wife, husband, child and grandchild of the decedent, or,
if there be no such wife, husband, child or grandchild, then to the parents.
brothers and sisters of the decedent, in such proportions as has been
ascertained by the judgment of the court, and shall be free from all debts
and liabilities of the deceased; but if there be no such wife, husband,
child, grandchild, parent, brother or sister, the amount so received shall
be assets in the hands of the personal representative to be disposed of
according to law. This and § 8-636 are subject to this proviso: When
the decedent has left a widowed mother and also a widow, or widower.
but no child or grandchild the amount recovered shall be divided between
the mother and the widow or widower as the case may be in such portions
as the jury or court may direct.

§ 8-640. The right of action under §§ 8-633 and 8-634, shall not
determine, nor the action, when brought, abate by the death of the de-
fendant, or the dissolution of the corporation when a corporation is the
defendant; and when an action is brought by a person injured for damage
caused by the wrongful act, neglect or default of any person or corpora-
tion and the person injured dies pending the action, the action shall not
abate by reason of his death, but, his death being suggested, it may be
revived in the name of his personal representative. If the death resulted
from the injury, the * motion for judgment and other pleadings shall be
amended so as to conform to an action under §§ 8-633 and 8-634, and the
case proceeded with as if the action had been brought under such sec-
tions. But in such cases there shall be but one recovery for the same
injury.

§ 8-652. Any person injured by the violation of any statute may
recover from the offender such damages as he may sustain by reason of
the violation, even though a penalty or forfeiture for such violation be
thereby imposed, unless such penalty or forfeiture be expressly mentioned
to be in lieu of such damages. And the damages so sustained together
with any penalty or forfeiture imposed for the violation of the statute
may be recovered in a single action * when the same person is entitled to
both damages and penalty; but nothing herein contained shall affect the
existing statutes of limitation applicable to the foregoing causes of action
respectively. |

§ 8-791. In any case when possession of any house, land or tene-
ment is unlawfully detained by the person in possession thereof, except a
case when possession is unlawfully detained by a tenant, or some person
claiming under him, when the lease of such tenant was originally for a
period exceeding one year, the landlord or other person entitled to the
possession may present to any justice of the peace or trial justice of the
county, city or town in which such premises are situated a statement under
oath of the facts which authorize the removal of the tenant or other person
in possession, describing such premises; and thereupon such justice of the
peace or trial justice shall issue his summons against the person or persons
named in such affidavit. Such summons issued by a justice of the peace
or trial justice may be directed to the sheriff, sergeant or constable and
served in the same manner as the process issued from the court. When
issued by a justice of the peace it may be returned to and the case heard
and determined by the trial justice of such county, city or town. Such
summons shall be served at least five days before the return day thereof.

§ 8-792. * * When the summons wnder the preceding section is re-
turnable to a court. a jury may be empanelled to try the case, upon the
application of either party, at any time before the trial. * Actions of
unlawful entry and detainer shall have precedence over all other civil cases
on the docket.

§ 8-796. The action of ejectment is retained, * subject to the pro-
visions hereinafter contained, and to the applicable rules of Court.

§ 8-800. The person actually occupying the premises and any person
claiming title thereto or claiming any interest therein adversely to the
plaintiff may also, at the discretion of the plaintiff, be named defendants
in the * action. If there be no person actually occupying the premises
adversely to the plaintiff, then the action must be against some person
exercising ownership thereon or claiming title thereto or some interest
therein at the commencement of suit. If a lessee be made defendant at the
suit of a party claiming against the title of his landlord such landlord may
appear and be made a defendant with or in place of his lessee.

§ 8-801. The action * shall be commenced * and prosecuted as *
other actions at law. * The name of the real claimant shall be inserted as
plaintiff, and all the provisions of law concerning a lessor of a plaintiff
shall apply to such plaintiff. oo ;

§ 8-802. It shall be sufficient for the plaintiff to aver in his * motion
for judgment that on some day specified therein, which shall be after his
title accrued, he was possessed of the premises claimed, and, being so pos-
sessed thereof, the defendant afterwards, on some day likewise specified,
entered into such premises or exercised acts of ownership thereon or
claimed title thereto or some interest therein, to the damage of the plain-
tiff in such sum as he shall state in his * motion for judgment.

§ 8-803. The premises claimed shall be described in the * motion
for judgment with convenient certainty, so that, from such description,
with the aid of information derived from the plaintiff, possession thereof
may be delivered.

§ 8-805. The * motion for judgment may contain several counts, and
several parties may be named as plaintiffs jointly in one count and sep-
arately in others. -

§ 8-814. The plaintiff may recover any specific or any undivided part
or share of the premises, though it be less than he claimed in the * motion
for judgment.

§ 8-818. * Whether * the defendant shall or shall not make or at-
tempt * a defense under the two preceding sections, he shall not be pre-
cluded from resorting to equity for any relief to which he would have been
entitled if such sections had not been enacted.

§ 8-821. When the right of the plaintiff is proved to all the premises
claimed, the verdict shall be for the premises generally as specified in the *
motion for judgment, but if it be proved to only a part or share of the
premises, the verdict shall specify such part particularly as the same is
proved, and with the same certainty of description as is required in the *
motion for judgment.

§ 8-825. The judgment for the plaintiff shall be, that he recover the
possession of the premises, according to the verdict of the jury, if there
be a verdict, or if the judgment be by default, or on demurrer, according
to the description thereof in the * motion for judgment.

§ 8-827. If the plaintiff file with his * motion for judgment a state-
ment of the profits and other damages which he means to demand, and
the jury find in his favor, they shall, at the same time, unless the court
otherwise order, assess the damages for mesne profits of the land for any
period not exceeding five years previously to the commencement of the suit
until the verdict, and also the damages for any destruction or waste of the
buildings or other property during the same time for which the defendant
is chargeable.

§ 8-828. If there be no issue of fact tried in the cause, and judgment
is to be rendered for the plaintiff on demurrer, * or otherwise, such dam-
ages shall be assessed by the court, unless either party shall move to have
them assessed by a jury, or the court shall think proper to have them
So assessed, in which case a jury shall be impaneled to assess them. If the
defendant is in default the court shall proceed to render judgment and
assess damages as provided in Rule of Court 3:19.

§ 8-829. If the defendant intends to claim allowance for improve-
ment made upon the premises by himself or those under whom he claims,
he shall file with his * pleading a statement of his claim therefor, in case
judgment be rendered for the plaintiff.

§ 8-867. In actions of trespass, general averments that the defen-
dant committed other wrongs, and that the acts charged were done with
force and arms, and against the peace, may be omitted; and the plaintiff
may prove all that he could have done if such averment had been inserted
in the * motion for judgment.

§ 16-19. Proceedings before a trial justice or civil justice, other than
a civil justice or a civil judge in cities having a population of more than
thirty thousand but not more than two hundred thousand and also in cities
having a population of more than two hundred twenty-five thousand in
civil matters of which he may have jurisdiction, may also be by motion
for judgment. Such proceeding shall conform as nearly as practicable to
proceedings prescribed by the Rules of Court adopted by The Supreme
Court of Appeals for motion for judgment, except that sueh notice shall
be made returnable not more than thirty days from the date of service
thereof, executed not less than ten days before the return day, and returned
to the trial justice, civil justice, or civil judge before whom it is returnable
not less than five days before the return day thereof. In the event the
return day of any notice given under the provisions of this section is a day
on which the court did not sit, such notice shall not be lost, but shall be
deemed matured for hearing on the first day thereafter on which the court
sits.

When the word “warrant” is used in any section of the Code or act
of assembly concerning proceedings before trial justices, civil justices, or
civil judges in civil cases it shall be construed to mean “warrant or motion
for judgment’.

§ 58-1014. The payment of any taxes, State, county or municipal,
both those which have been assessed and those which ought to have been
assessed, may, in addition to the remedies now allowed by law, be enforced
by warrant, motion for judgment at law, * bill in chancery or by attach-
ment before a trial justice or a court of record within this State in the
same manner, to the same extent and with the same rights of appeal as
now exists or may hereafter be provided by law for the enforcement of
demands between individuals. The jurisdiction here conferred on courts
of equity shall be concurrent with the jurisdiction in actions at law and
in such equitable proceedings it shall not be necessary to allege or prove
any equitable grounds of jurisdiction.

§ 58-1016. Such proceedings shall be instituted and conducted in the
name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, or in the name of the county,
city, or town in which such taxes or levies are assessed, at the direction of
the board of supervisors or other governing body of the county or the
council of the city or town, by such attorney or attorneys as such board,
council or other governing body may employ for the purpose. The *
motion for judgment, bill, * or other pleading or bill of particulars filed
therewith shall contain a statement showing the beneficial interest respec-
tively of the State, county and other municipal or political subdivision in
the sum demanded, and may be amended at any time before final judgment
or decree; provided, that the defendant shall be entitled to a continuance
for a reasonable time when such amendment is made.