CHAPTER 9

An Act to amend Chapter 64, as amended, of the Acts of Assembly of
1922, approved February 25, 1922, which provided a new charter for
the City of Suffolk, by adding sections numbered 29.01 to 29. 17, inclu-
sive, and to repeal §§ 29, as amended, and 29% of said chapter, all
relating to the civil and police justice of the city; and to amend the
same charter by adding a section numbered 29.18, to provide for the
appointment of bail commissioners. rH 397

Approved February 138, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That Chapter 64, as amended, of the Acts of Assembly of 1922,
approved February 25, 1922, be amended by adding sections numbered
29.01 to 29.18, inclusive, as follows:
§ 29.01. Civil and police justice——Election and term.—The council
shall, in the month of September, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, and
biennially thereafter, elect a special justice of the peace to be known as
the civil and police justice, who shall hold office for the term of two years
from the first day of October ensuing his election and until his successor
is duly elected and qualified, unless sooner removed from office.

§ 29.02. Qualifications.—Such civil and police justice, at the time of
his election and during his term of office, shall reside in the city, and shall
not, during the said term, hold any other office of public trust.

§ 29.08. Oath and bond.—Such civil and police justice, before enter-
ing upon the performance of his duties, shall take the official oaths required
by State law before the clerk of the circuit court of the city. He shall also
enter into bond in the penalty of two thousand dollars before the clerk of
said circuit court of the city, with surety to be approved by said clerk,
and conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties as civil and
police justice.

§ 29.04. Compensation.—_Such civil and police justice shall receive
such salary as the council may determine, to be paid in monthly or semi-
monthly installments out of the treasury of the city, and he shall receive
no other compensation for his services as such civil and police justice.

§ 29.05. Daily sessions; substitute—The court of such civil and
police justice shall be kept open for the transaction of busines every day
in the year, except Sundays and legal holidays, but the justice shall be
allowed annually a vacation period of not more than one month between
July first and October first. The council shall appoint as substitute civil
and police justice a person residing in the city, and may at any time revoke
such appointment, and make a new appointment, in the event of such
revocation, or of the death, absence or disability of such substitute civil
and police justice. In the event of the inability of the civil and police
justice to perform the duties of his office by reason of sickness, absence,
vacation, interest in the claim, proceeding or parties before his court, or
otherwise, such substitute civil and police justice shall perform the duties
of the office during such absence or disability, and shall receive for his
services as per diem compensation equivalent to one-twentieth of a monthly
installment of the salary of the civil and police justice payable out of the
treasury of the city; and the council] may from time to time, determine
whether or not such compensation shall be deducted from the salary of the
civil and police justice. While acting as such either the civil and police
justice or the substitute civil and police justice may perform all acts with
reference to the proceedings and judgments of the other in any warrant,
claim or proceeding before the court of the civil and police justice in the
same manner and with the same force and effect as if they were his own.

§ 29.06. Assistant substitute civil and police justice.—In addition
to the substitute civil and police justice provided for by this charter the
council may appoint an assistant substitute civil and police justice who
shall have the same qualifications and shall during the time he performs
the duties of the office of civil and police justice exercise the same powers,
perform the same duties and receive the same compensation as the substi-
tute civil and police justice. Such assistant substitute civil and police
justice shall serve only at such times as he shall be designated by the
substitute civil and police justice to act in his place and stead.

§ 29.07. Jurisdiction of the civil and police justice shall be as
follows:

(1) The said civil and police justice shall be a conservator of the
peace within the corporate limits of the city, and for one mile beyond said
limits, and within such limits he shall have exclusive original jurisdiction
for the trial of all offenses against the ordinances of the city; provided,
that the city shall have the right to appeal to the circuit court of said city
from any decision of the civil and police justice affecting the legality or
validity of any ordinance passed by the council of the city; and, within the
corporate limits of said city, and for one mile beyond such limits, he shall
have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court of said city and with
the circuit court of Nansemond county for the trial of all cases of the
violation of the revenue and election laws of the State. In criminal cases,
he shall possess all the jurisdiction and exercise all the power and authority
now, or hereafter, conferred by law upon a trial justice, and, except where
it is otherwise specifically provided by law, shall have exclusive original
jurisdiction for the trial of all misdemeanor cases occurring within the
corporate limits of the city and concurrent jurisdiction with the county
authorities of offenses committed within one mile of the corporate limits;
in all of which cases the punishment shall be that which is provided by law
or ordinance.

(2) In civil cases, the civil and police justice shall possess all the
jurisdiction and exercise all the power and authority now or hereafter
conferred by law upon a trial justice. No other justice of the peace shall
hereafter exercise such criminal or civil jurisdiction as is herein conferred
on said civil and police justice, except as provided herein. The civil and
police justice shall have, within the corporate limits of the city, 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 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 three
hundred dollars, and concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court of the
city of any such claim when the amount thereof exceeds three hundred
dollars but does not exceed one thousand dollars. For the purpose of this
section, the amount of the claim shall include any attorney’s fee contracted
for in any instrument sued on, but shall exclude interest and costs.

§ 29.08. Issuance of warrants.—The council shall elect one or more
special justices of the peace to be known as warrant justices, who shall hold
office during the pleasure of the council and shall have such powers as are
hereby conferred, and no other. Such warrant justice or justices shall, at
the time of his or their election, and while holding such office, reside in the
city, and no person shall be ineligible to such office by reason of the fact
that at the time of his election or while holding such office he is an officer
or employee of the State or city.

Every warrant justice, before entering upon the performance of his
duties, shall take the official oaths required by State law, before the clerk
of the circuit court of the city.

Every warrant and attachment within the jurisdiction conferred upon
the civil and police justice by this charter shall be issued by one of such
warrant justices, but every warrant so issued shall be made returnable
before the civil and police justice and shall, unless otherwise provided by
law, be triable only by him, or by the substitute civil and police justice or
the assistant substitute civil and police justice, and every attachment so
issued shall be made returnable before the civil and police justice or the
circuit court of the city, as the law directs; provided, however, that in
event of the disability of the warrant justice or justices, warrants and
attachments may be issued by the civil and police justice, or, in event of
the inability of the civil and police justice to act for any of the reasons
mentioned in § 29.05, by the substitute civil and police justice, or the
assistant substitute civil and police justice and provided, further, that no
such warrant justice shal] have power to issue warrants or other process
in cases to be heard by the judge of the juvenile and domestic relations
court for the city. Any such warrant justice may also issue subpoenas
for witnesses in civil and criminal] cases to be tried by the civil and police
justice, but not in cases to be heard by the judge of the juvenile and
domestic relations court for the city. .

In the absence of the civil and police justice, the substitute civil and
police justice and the assistant substitute civil and police justice, each
warrant justice shall have the same power to admit to bail persons charged
with misdemeanors as the civil and police justice would have if present,
shall collect the fees therefor and shall report and pay same to the officer
authorized to collect fines imposed by the civil and police justice, and shall
have the same power to admit to bail such persons charged with noncapital
felonies as the civil and police justice would have if present, provided that
the amount of bail bond to be required in such felony cases shall be fixed
by the civil and police justice, the substitute civil and police justice or the
assistant substitute civil and police justice and provided that in all capital
felony cases only the civil and police justice, the substitute civil and police
justice or the assistant substitute civil and police justice or other person
authorized by law to admit to bail shall act.

Such warrant justice or justices shall receive such salary or other
compensation as the council may from time to time prescribe by ordinance,
but no officer or employee in any department of the city government who
may be elected warrant justice shall receive any salary or other compensa-
tion as such justice while he holds such other office or continues in such
other employment, unless and until the council specifically provides for
such salary or other compensation by ordinance.

The fees now or hereafter prescribed by law for the issuance of
warrants shall be collected by the civil and police justice and be paid by
him into the treasury of the city monthly, but the council may, in its discre-
tion, provide that such fees shall be collected by such warrant justice or
justices and be retained by him or them as compensation for his or their
services.

§ 29.09. Costs and fees.—The civil and police justice shall collect
all costs and other fees required by law or ordinance to be paid, and, at
or before the time of hearing had before him on any claim of which he
is given jurisdiction by clause two of § 29.07 the plaintiff in such claim
shall pay to the said civil and police justice a trial fee of fifty cents for
each hundred dollars of value, or fraction thereof, claimed in the warrant.
The trial fee shall be taxed as part of the cost. The civil and police justice
shall pay monthly into the treasury of the city all costs, trial fees and
other fees collected by him. All fines paid to the said civil and police
justice for violations of State law shall be accounted for by him as
required by law.

§ 29.10. Procedure.—All procedure in claims and proceedings of
which the civil and police justice is given jurisdiction by clause two of
§ 29.07 except so far as is herein otherwise provided, shall conform to
the procedure applicable to trial justices by general law; except that on
motion of either party the adverse party may be required to file the
particulars of the claim or the grounds of defense as provided in § 8-111
of the Code of Virginia, and except that the proceedings in a cause where
an infant or insane person is party shall not be stayed because of such
infancy or insanity, but the civil and police justice shall appoint some
competent and discreet attorney at law as guardian ad litem to such infant
or insane defendant, whether such defendant shall have been served with
the process or not; or, if no such attorney be found willing to act, the
civil and police justice shall appoint some other discreet and proper
person as guardian ad litem, who shall faithfully represent the interest
or estate of the infant or insane person for whom he is appointed; but
the said guardian ad litem so appointed shall not be liable for costs. The
civil and police justice, upon rendering any judgment, may issue a writ
of fieri facias thereon immediately, if there be not a new trial granted,
nor an appeal allowed, nor a stay of execution; and he may, from time to
time, renew such writ of fieri facias either before or after the expiration
of one year from the date of the judgment.

§ 29.11. Appeals and removals.—lIn all misdemeanors triable before
such civil and police justice under the provisions hereof, there shall be
an appeal from his judgment to the circuit court of the city, as is now
or may hereafter be provided by law for appeals from the judgment of
trial justices. An appeal may be taken to said circuit court of the city
from the judgment of said civil and police justice imposing a penalty for
any infraction of a city ordinance. In any civil case triable before such
civil and police justice involving a claim to specific personal property, or
to any debt, fine or other money, or to damages for breach of any con-
tract, or for any injury done to property, real or personal, or for any
injury to the person when the amount exceeds the sum of three hundred
dollars, such justice shall, at any time within ten days after the return
day of the process, provided judgment has not been rendered, but not
thereafter, upon the application of the defendant and the filing by him
of the particulars of his grounds of defense duly sworn to, and upon the
payment by him of the costs accrued to the time of removal, remove the
case and all the papers thereof to the circuit court of the city of Suffolk,
and the clerk of said court shall forthwith docket the same. On the trial
of the case, the proceedings shall conform to proceedings under §§ 8-717 to
8-723 of the Code of Virginia, as now or hereafter amended. In all cases
where the amount involved, exclusive of interest, is over twenty dollars,
there shall be an appeal of right to the circuit court of the city and such
appeals, as to procedure, shall be governed by §§ 16-102 to 16-107, of the
Code of Virginia, as now or hereafter amended, but no appeal shall be
granted unless and until the party applying for the same has given bond
in such amount and with such surety as is approved by said civil and
police justice to abide the judgment of the court upon the appeal. The
clerk of the circuit court of the city, upon receipt of the papers in any
such appeal case, shall, upon payment of the writ tax, forthwith docket
such case in its regular order; but if said writ tax be not so paid within
thirty days from the date of the judgment, the said appeal shall there-
upon stand dismissed and said judgment shall become final, and the said
papers, upon application of any party in interest, shall be returned to the
civil and police justice by the clerk of said circuit court of the city.
Appeal cases shall not have preference in such circuit court of the city,
as regards time of trial. In no civil case triable before the civil and police
justice, shall a removal] to any court be allowed except as herein provided.
In appeals and removals, the amount of the claim or the amount involved
shall include any attorney’s fee contracted for in any instrument sued on,
but shall exclude interest and costs.

§ 29.12. Dismissal of claims; docket.—If any claim of which the
civil and police justice is given jurisdiction by clause two of § 29.07 shall
have been pending before him sixty days, he shall notify the parties, or
their counsel, that the same will be dismissed in ten days thereafter unless
good cause be shown to the contrary, and, unless such cause be shown
within said ten days, such civil and police justice shall forthwith dismiss
such claim.

The civil and police justice shall keep a docket in which shall be
entered all cases, civil and criminal, tried and prosecuted before him, and
the final disposition of the same.

All papers connected with any of the proceedings in the trial of cases
before the civil and police justice, except such as may be removed on
appeal or removal and except also such papers in criminal matters as are
required by law to be returned to and lodged in the clerk’s office of the
circuit court of the city, shall be properly indexed and filed and preserved.
§ 29.13. Rules of practice.—The civil and police justice shall have
the power to make and enforce such reasonable rules of practice as are
not in conflict with law.

§ 29.14. Court room, books and stationery.—The council shall pro-
vide a suitable court room for the civil and police justice, and shall furnish
all necessary furniture, books and stationery. Such books shall be under
the control of the civil and police justice and shall remain the property
of the city

§ 29.15. Removal from office.—The civil and police justice may be
removed or suspended from office by the circuit court of the city for mal-
feasance, incompetency, gross neglect of official duty, or corruption in
office. All proceedings for such removal or suspension shall be by order
of and on motion before the said circuit court of the city, upon reasonable
notice to the civil and police justice to be affected thereby. Such officer
shall have the right to demand a trial by jury.

§ 29.16. Vacancy.—Any vacancy occurring in the office of civil and
police justice arising from the resignation, removal or death of the incum-
bent shall be filled by the council by election of a person with the qualifi-
cations prescribed by § 29.02.

§ 29.17. The council may appoint a.clerk for the civil and police
justice court, who also may be clerk of the juvenile and domestic relations
court, whose term of office shall be coincident with that of the civil and
police justice. Such clerk shall keep the docket, records and acts for such
court and shall discharge such other duties as may be prescribed by the
judge thereof. He shall account for all fines, costs and other moneys
received by him as such clerk as required by law, giving receipts therefor
and making reports as required by the council. He shall be authorized to
administer oaths, qualify sureties, to take bonds, and admit to bail in
misdemeanor cases as the civil and police justice might do in person. He
shall give bond in such sums as may he fixed by the city council by ordi-
nance with surety to be approved by the council. He shall perform such
other duties as may be required of him by the council. The clerk, with the
approval of the city manager, may be a member of the police force of the
city, in which event he shall remain subject to supervision and jurisdic-
tion of the chief of police and the city manager and shall retain his status
as a member of the police force insofar as his rank, salary and right of
retirement are concerned.

The council may appoint a substitute clerk to act in the event of
illness of the clerk and when so designated he shall execute such office as
the clerk would do.

§ 29.18. The circuit court of the city of Suffolk, or the judge thereof
in vacation, may appoint one or more of the commissioners in chancery
of the said court bail commissioner or bail commissioners for such city.
Each such bail commissioner shall have the same powers and duties in
respect to the city of Suffolk as bail commissioners for counties have in
respect to their counties, and a bail commissioner shall hold office at the
pleasure of the judge of the circuit court.

2. That §§ 29 and 2914 of Chapter 64, as amended, of the Acts of
Assembly of 1922, approved February 25, 1922, are repealed.
38. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.

An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding to Article 7 of Chapter 9
of Title 88.1 five sections numbered 88.1-495.1 through 8$8.1-495.5 to
provide for complete mutualization of stock life insurance companies;
to such end to provide when a court of equity may compel completion
of mutualization of a stock life insurance company, the venue for
proceedings to accomplish the same, parties to the proceeding, deter-
mination of the value of stock outstanding, and the procedure in such
mutualizations thereafter.

fH 6

Approved February 19, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding in Article 7 of
Chapter 9 of Title 38.1 five sections numbered 38.1-495.1 through 38.1-
495.5, as follows:

§ 38.1-495.1. Whenever (1) a plan of mutualization heretofore or
hereafter approved in accordance with the laws of this State shall have
been in effect for more than five years, and (2) the company shall have
acquired in the name of its trustees under the plan at least ninety percent
of its outstanding stock, and (8) the plan itself contains no provision for
the compulsory completion of mutualization inconsistent with the terms
hereof, courts of equity shall have jurisdiction to compel completion of
the mutualization of the company upon the petition of either the company
or any stockholder thereof. Action upon any such petition shall be in
accordance with general laws and court rules governing equity practice
and procedure.

§ 38.1-495.2. Such petition may be filed in any court of record with
general equity jurisdiction in the county or city in which the principal
office of the company is located.

§ 38.1-495.8. Necessary parties to such a proceeding shall be (1)
the company, (2) the registered holders of all its stock still outstanding
in the hands of the public, and (3) its policyholders as a class. Process
may be served on the policyholders as a class by publication but any
policyholder may, on motion, be admitted as an individual party. The
court shall appoint an attorney to represent all other policyholders.

§ 38.1-495.4. The court shall determine the per share fair cash value
as of the date of the filing of the petition of the stock remaining in the
hands of the public. If the court shall find that on that basis completion
of mutualization may not be effected without jeopardizing the solvency
of the company or the security of its policyholders, the petition shall be
dismissed. Otherwise, the court shall enter such decree as may be appro-
priate to require (1) the payment into court by the company of the aggre-
gate amount thus found to be due such remaining stockholders, with such
interest, if any, and costs, which may include attorneys’ fees, as the court
may require, and (2) the transfer and delivery to the company of all
stock certificates still outstanding in the hands of the public. Upon such
payment by the company the trustees under the plan of mutualization
shall be deemed for all purposes of the plan of mutualization to have
acquired all of its outstanding stock and the holders of the stock shall
possess no further right with respect thereto except to receive the fair
cash value thereof as thus determined by the court. The court shall retain
jurisdiction of the cause to distribute the fund.

§ 38.1-495.5. Upon acquisition by the trustees under the plan of
mutualization of a stock life insurance company of all its capital stock
pursuant to the provisions of Article 7, Chapter 9 of this Title, the charter
of the company shall be amended to give effect to its mutualization and
to comply with the provisions of this article and in such other respects
as may be deemed necessary by the board of directors and trustees of the
company, the proceeding to be in accordance with Chapter 4, Title 13,
the trustees under the plan of mutualization being the sole stockholders
of the company. The name of the converted company may be changed
by such amendment and need not contain the word “incorporated,” or the
word “corporation,” or the word ‘“‘mutual,” but shall be such as to dis-
tinguish it from any other corporation chartered for similar purposes,
other than the converted stock company. Upon such amendment of the
charter of the company, the board of directors named in the amendment
shall adopt any changes in the by-laws deemed necessary, and the by-laws
and any amendments thereof shall be filed with the State Corporation
Commission within thirty days after adoption.

As soon as the charter of the company has been amended as afore-
said, the capital stock of the company held by the trustees shall be
assigned by them to the company and shall be retired and cancelled forth-
with, which fact shall be forthwith certified to the State Corporation Com-
mission by the proper officers of the company, and the trustees acting
under the plan shall thereupon be discharged. Upon retirement and can-
cellation of such stock and filing certification thereof with the State Cor-
poration Commission, the life insurance company shall immediately be
and become a mutual life insurance company owning all the assets of the
converted stock company and subject to all its liabilities.

The officers and directors of the company named in the amended
charter shall continue as the officers and directors of the mutual life
insurance company until their successors are duly elected in accordance
with the provisions of the amended charter and the by-laws adopted
thereunder.

The charter of such mutual life insurance company may be amended
as provided in Chapter 13, Title 13, except that the amendment need be
approved only by the vote of two-thirds of the members voting at the
meeting.

Such mutual life insurance company, except as otherwise provided
in this title, shall be subject to all the general restrictions and have all
eg Beneral powers imposed and conferred upon non-stock corporations

y law.

2. The provisions of this act shall not be applicable to any such corpo-
ration chartered in this State prior to July 10, 1902, which corporation
has not, after such date, accepted or effected any amendment or extension
of its charter.

CHAPTER 9

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
9.01. Department of Public Utilities ——There may be a depart-
ment of public utilities which shall consist of the director of public utilities,
who may be the city manager or a person appointed by the city manager
with the approval of the council, and such other officers and employees or-
ganized into such bureaus, divisions and other units as may be provided
by ordinance or by the orders of the director consistent therewith.

§ 9.02. Functions.—The department of public utilities shall be re-
sponsible for: (a) the operation of the water and sewer utilities of the
city; (b) the collection of all charges for the services of such utilities;
(c) such other powers and duties as may be assigned to the department
by ordinance.

§ 9.08. Director of Public Utilities—The head of the department
of public utilities shall be the director of public utilities. He shall have
general management and control of the several bureaus, divisions and
other units of the department.