CHAPTER 88

An Act to amend and reenact § 88-76.6 as amended of the Code of Virginia
relating to the sale and exchange of certain portions of roads of the
State Highway System which have been abandoned and other real
estate acquired by the State Highway Commission incidental to con-
struction, reconstruction, alteration, maintenance and repair of the
State Highway System.

(S 65]

Approved March 1, 1954

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 33-76.6 as amended of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted to read as follows:

§ 33-76.6. Conveying sections of roads or other property no longer
necessary.— Whenever a road or a portion thereof has been abandoned in
accordance with the provisions of Section 33-76.2 or Section 33-76.5 of this
article and * * * is deemed by the Commissioner no longer necessary for
the uses of the State Highway System, * * * the Commissioner shall so
certify in writing to the State Highway Commission such facts, and it
may authorize the Commissioner to execute, in the name of the Common-
wealth, a deed or deeds conveying such section or sections of road, * * *
either for a consideration or in exchange for other lands that may be
necessary for the uses of the State Highway System. But before any
such deed either for the sale or exchange of land is executed conveying
any section of a highway * * * upon or along which any person or persons
reside, notice shall be given by the Commissioner to the governing body of
the county and town and to the owner or owners of the land upon which
such person or persons reside of the intention to convey the section of road
and if, after a reasonable notice of such intention, any such landowner or
governing body so requests a hearing shall be ordered by the Commis-
sioner as now provided by law. If, upon such hearing, it is made to appear
that such section of road * * * should be * * * left open * * * for the
reasonable convenience of such landowner, or the public then such section
of road * * * shall not be conveyed. But no hearing shall be held if such
road was abandoned under Section 33-76.2.

When real estate acquired incidental to the construction, reconstruc-
tion, alteration, maintenance and repair of the State Highway System
which does not constitute a section of the public road, is deemed by the
Commissioner no longer necessary for the uses of the State Highway
System, the Commissioner shall so certify, in writing, to the State Highway
Commission such facts, and it may authorize the Commissioner to execute,
in the name of the Commonwealth, a deed or deeds conveying such real
estate, interest therein, or any portion thereof, either for a consideration
or in exchange for other lands that may be necessary for the uses of the
State Highway System.

Any such conveyance shall have the approval of the Commission by
resolution recorded in the minutes of a meeting of the Commission.
An Act to amend and reenact § 27 of Chapter 216 of the Acts of Assembly
of 1952, approved March 7, 1952, which provided a new charter for the
city of Roanoke, the section relating to the Municipal Courts and to
amend said Chapter by adding a section numbered 30.1 providing for
closing of City Sergeant’s office Saturday, under certain oun 5)

[S 10
Approved March 1, 1954

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 27 of Chapter 216 of the Acts of Assembly of 1952, approved
March 7, 1952, be amended and reenacted, and that said chapter be
amended by adding thereto a section numbered 30.1, the new and amended
sections being as follows:

§ 27. Municipal Court.

(a) The court presided over by the civil and police justice and the
assistant civil and police justice at the effective date of this charter is
hereby continued, and shall be known as the Municipal Court of the city
of Roanoke. Said court shall be composed of a chief municipal judge and
of as many municipal judges as council may, from time to time, hereafter
determine and elect in the manner provided for by § 9 of this charter.

(b) The civil and police justice in office at the effective date of this
charter shall be the chief municipal judge until the expiration of his term
of office or until a vacancy may otherwise occur. The assistant civil and
police justice in office on the effective date of this charter shall be a
municipal judge until the expiration of his term of office or until a vacancy
may otherwise occur.

(c) Every judge of the Municipal Court shall, at the time of his
election, be qualified to practice law in the city of Roanoke; shall have
been a resident of said city for at least one year next preceding his elec-
tion; and shall, before entering upon the performance of the duties of his
office, take and subscribe to the oath prescribed by law.

(d) The judges of the Municipal Court may agree upon a division of
the business and upon the assignment of cases for trial in said court and
in the divisions thereof, but in the event they shall not so agree the chief
municipal judge shall make the necessary division of business and assign-
ment of cases for trial.

The Municipal Court shall be divided and held in the following
divisions:

(1) Criminal Division—for the disposition of criminal matters and
cases.

(2) Civil Division—for the disposition of civil matters and cases.

(3) Traffic Division—for the disposition of matters and cases involv-
ing a violation of State laws or city ordinances relating to the ownership,
operation, use or control of automobiles and all other vehicles.

(4) Miscellaneous Division—for the disposition of matters and cases
involving the adjudication or commitment of insane, epileptic, feeble-
minded or inebriate persons, and for the disposition of all other matters
and cases within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court or of any municipal
judge not falling within either of the three preceding divisions of said
court.

The Municipal Court or any division thereof as hereinabove provided
may be presided over and conducted by any municipal judge, and each
municipal judge concurrently, shall have all the power, authority and
jurisdiction necessary to bring on, hear, determine and adjudicate all
matters and cases within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court, or of
any judge thereof, properly before him for determination.
_ (e) All municipal judges shall devote full time to the duties of their
office. Each shall receive such individual salary as the council shall, from
time to time, fix which shall be paid by the city and each may participate
in the Employees’ Retirement System of the city of Roanoke, but shall
receive no other compensation, fees or emoluments whatsoever from said

(f) Each municipal judge shall be a conservator of the peace within
the corporate limits of the city of Roanoke and within one mile beyond
said limits and within the city and one mile beyond its limits, said court,
and each judge thereof concurrently, shall have exclusive original juris-
diction for the trial of all offenses against the ordinances of the city, except
in those matters which are provided by law or by this charter to be within
the exclusive original jurisdiction of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations
Court of said city; provided, however, that the city shall have the right of
appeal to any court of record of the city from the decision of any such
municipal judge affecting the legality or validity of any city ordinance,
except that in any criminal matter such appeal shall be only to the Hustings
Court of said city.

The Municipal Court, and each judge thereof concurrently, shall have
exclusive original jurisdiction over all misdemeanors committed within the
corporate limits of the city and shall have concurrent original jurisdiction
with the appropriate county or town authorities over all offenses com-
mitted within one mile beyond said limits except where it is otherwise
provided by law or by this charter.

In criminal matters and cases the Municipal Court and the several
divisions thereof, and each municipal judge concurrently, shall possess
and exercise all of the jurisdiction, power and authority which were pos-
sessed and exercised by the civil and police justice of the city immediately
before the effective date of this charter or which are now or may hereafter
be conferred by the laws of the Commonwealth upon any trial justice or
upon any justice of the peace.

Notwithstanding the provisions herein contained, the Hustings Court
of the city of Roanoke shall continue to have jurisdiction to try any persons
for any misdemeanor for which such person be indicted or may certify such
indictment to the Municipal Court or the appropriate division thereof, or to
any other appropriate court, 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. Each judge of
the Municipal Court shall have the power to order the arrest of, conduct
the preliminary examinations of, admit to bail and take the recognizance
of persons charged with crime in the manner prescribed for justices of the
peace and trial justices generally by Chapter 5, of Title 19, of the Code of
1950, and Acts amendatory thereto.

(g) The Muncipal Court, the proper division thereof, and each munici-
pal judge concurrently, shall also have and exercise the jurisdiction con-
ferred by general law upon justices of the peace and trial justices in all
matters in connection with the adjudication and commitment of mentally
ill, mentally deficient, insane, epileptic, feeble-minded, inebriate, and drug
addicted persons and the institution and conduct of proceedings therefor
and the commitment for observation as to the mental condition of any
suitable person not an inebriate or a drug addict.

(h) Any person convicted of a crime or of an offense against an ordi-
nance of the city by any municipal judge shall have the right, at any
time within ten days from such conviction and whether or not such con-
viction was upon a plea of guilty, to appeal to the Hustings Court of the
city of Roanoke. Upon the appeal of any such case the procedure and the
trial of such appeal case shall be conducted as provided by Sections 16-8
and 16-10 of Chapter 1, Title 16, of the Code of Virginia, 1950.
(i) (1) In civil matters and cases the Municipal Court, the proper
division or divisions thereof, and each municipal judge concurrently, shall
possess and exercise all of the jurisdiction, power and authority which
were possessed and exercised by the civil and police justice of the city
immediately before the effective date of this charter and which are now
or may hereafter be conferred by the laws of the Commonwealth upon any
trial justice in civil matters.

In both criminal and civil matters within the jurisdiction of the
Municipal Court or of any judge thereof, each municipal judge con-
currently, shall have full authority to issue warrants, summonses, processes
and writs, both mesne and final.

(2) Any civil case, within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court or
of any judge thereof, may, at the election of the plaintiff, be brought by
notice of motion for judgment. Such notice shall be in writing, shall be
signed by the plaintiff or his attorney, shall contain a brief statement of
the plaintiff’s claim, shall be served at least five days before the return day
thereof in the same manner as civil warrants are served and shall also be
returned, docketed and tried in the same manner as civil warrants are
returned, docketed and tried.

(3) The procedure in all civil matters and cases, except as herein
otherwise provided, shall, as heretofore, conform as nearly as is practical
to the provisions of general law relating to trial justices.

(4) In matters of removals, appeals and bonds in civil matters, the
Municipal Court, and each judge thereof, shall be governed by Title 16,
Chapter 2, Article 6, of the Code of Virginia, 1950, and Acts amendatory
thereto as the same relates to trial justices, except that removals and
appeals in civil matters shall be to the Hustings Court or the Court of Law
and Chancery of said city, as may be designated by the party making the
removal or appeal.

If any plaintiff shall not bring his case to trial within two years from
the time it is docketed in the court to which it is removed, or appealed, it
shall be dismissed at the expiration of said two-year period, unless, after
reasonable notice to the plaintiff, good cause be shown against such

ismissal.

(5) If, in a civil action, the warrant or notice of motion for judgment
be upon an account or contract, express or implied, for the payment of
money, affidavits may be made and like proceedings had as provided by
Section 8-511 of the 1950 Code of Virginia in actions of assumpsit.

(j) Costs and fees in criminal and civil matters and cases shall be
charged and collected, or taxed, as the case may be, in accordance with the
provisions of general law relating to costs and fees in criminal and civil
matters and cases before trial justices, except that all such costs and
fees collected in the Municipal Court shall be payable into the treasury of
the city of Roanoke in the manner provided in this charter.

(k) Each municipal judge shall keep his office and court at such
places as may be prescribed by council. The Criminal Division and the
Civil Division of the Municipal Court, and the office of each municipal
judge shall be kept open for the transaction of business every day in the
year except Sundays and legal holidays. The chief municipal judge shall
cause the Traffic Division and the Miscellaneous Division of the Municipal
Court to be kept open for the transaction of business for a sufficient
number of days each week in the year to assure the prompt dispatch of
all business in each of said divisions. Any or all divisions of the Municipal
Court may be closed on Saturdays if authorized by the city council.

(1) The council, in its discretion, may appoint by ordinance a sub-
stitute municipal judge, who shall possess the same qualifications of a
municipal judge, to serve for such period as may be swecified in the
ordinance. When there is a substitute municipal judge in office pursuant
to this enabling provision, the council shall prescribe, in the appointing
ordinance, when and under what conditions he may act as substitute
municipal judge and what compensation he shall receive for such services.
When lawfully acting as substitute municipal judge, he shall possess all the
jurisdiction and exercise all the power of a municipal judge.

(m) The chief municipal judge shall be in charge of and responsible
for the general administration of the Municipal Court and of the several
divisions thereof and he shall cause the clerk of said court to promptly
and efficiently perform all duties imposed upon said clerk by this charter
or by said municipal judge.

(n) Whenever a vacancy shall occur in the office of chief municipal
judge, council shall promptly fill the vacancy by electing a municipal judge
as chief municipal judge for a term to coincide with the regular term of
the municipal judge so elected; or, in its discretion, council may elect some
other qualified person as chief municipal judge to serve for the unexpired
term of his predecessor, provided, however, that should any vacancy occur
in the office of chief municipal judge prior to October 1, 1954, council shall
elect a successor to serve only for the unexpired term of his predecessor.
Any vacancy occurring in the office of municipal judge arising from any
cause may be filled by council by the election of a person with the qualifica-
tions prescribed herein.

(o) The council, may, by ordinance, impose upon the judges of the
Municipal Court and upon the clerk thereof such other duties, not incon-
sistent with this charter and the laws of the Commonwealth, as it may
deem proper and expedient; and may provide for their vacations, sick
leaves and leaves of absence.

§ 30.1. The City Sergeant’s office may be closed on Saturdays upon
the order of the senior judge from the point of service of the courts of
record in the city.