CHAPTER 227

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 55-88, 55-90 as amended, and 55-92
of the Code of Virginia, relating respectively, to the reservation of
tittle or lien upon agreements for conditional sales, the recordation of
such agreements, and the satisfaction and release of such 10 eel

63]
Approved March 5, 1956
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 55-88, 55-90 as amended, and 55-92 of the Code of Virginia
be amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 55-88. Every sale or contract for the sale of goods and chattels,
wherein the title thereto or a lien thereon is reserved until the same be
paid for, in whole or in part, or the transfer of title is made to depend on
any condition, when possession is delivered to the vendee, shall, in re-
spect to such reservation and condition, be void as to creditors of the
vendee, who acquire a lien upon the goods and as to purchasers from the
vendee, for value without notice, unless such sale or contract be evidenced
by writing, signed by the vendor and the vendee, setting forth the date
thereof, the amount due, when and how payable, a brief description of
the goods and chattles, and the terms of the reservation or condition;
and unless such writing is filed* with the clerk by whom deeds are ad-
mitted to record, as provided by law, of the county or corporation in
which such goods and chattels may be; provided, that if such filing *
be done within five days from the delivery of the goods and chattels to the
vendee, it shall be as valid as to creditors and purchasers as if such
filing* had been done on the day of such delivery of the goods and chattels.

Such clerk shall endorse on every such contract its assigned number
and the word “filed”*, together with the day and hour of such filing and
shall affix his signature thereto. Provided that if said contract is filed in
duplicate the vendor may have both copies endorsed as aforesaid; in which
event the original shall be returned to the vendor and the duplicate re-
tained by said clerk.

§ 55-90. The clerk shall* number the writings mentioned in § 55-88*
consecutively and file the same, or an executed duplicate copy thereof, in
numerical order, and shall index the same alphabetically, in the name of
both the vendor and the vendee, in a separate general index book kept for
that purpose, for which service he may charge a fee of fifty cents. No
recording tax shall be charged thereon.* .

Upon request of the vendor, if a duplicate carbon or photostatic copy
of such contract is presented at the time of filing or if suit is filed on a
contract and a true copy thereof is presented, the clerk shall certify the
same without charge. Copies for any other purpose shall be charged for at
lawful rates.

§ 55-92. Every vendor in a contract for the sale of personal proper-
ty* filed under § 55-90 shall, upon payment to him of the amount of the
purchase price in full, as set forth in the contract, cause the same to be
marked satisfied upon the margin of the* vendee index on the line or
lines where the name of each vendee appears. Such note of satisfaction,
when signed by such vendor, his agent or attorney, and attested by the
clerk in whose office such contract is* filed, or when made and signed by
such clerk, who is authorized and directed to make and sign the same upon
the filing of an affidavit by the vendor, assignee or his duly authorized
agent, attorney or attorney in fact, which such clerk, to the effect that
the amount of the purchase price therein secured and intended to be
released or discharged has been paid in full to such vendor, his agent,
attorney or attorney in fact, who was, when the purchase price was so
paid, entitled and authorized to receive the same, shall operate as a re-
lease of all claims of such vendor therein. The clerk for attesting such
release or for making and signing the same upon affidavit filed as afore-
said shall have a fee of twenty-five cents, to be paid by the vendee. Any
vendor who shall fail to release a contract after the whole amount thereof
has been paid to him for a period of fifteen days after he shall have re-
ceived notice from the vendee to mark the contract satisfied shall forfeit
five dollars to the vendee. If the vendee is indebted for rent of the house
wherein the personal property described in such contract is stored or
kept and the landlord has taken action to recover such rent, the vendor,
at the request of the landlord, his agent or attorney, shall state on oath
the balance due on the contract of sale, and upon the payment of the
CHS. 227, 228, 229] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 249

same by the vendee, or his landlord, shall mark the contract satisfied in
accordance with the terms and provisions of this section and for failure
so to do shall forfeit five dollars to the party making such payment.

2. These sections as amended shall be in force on and after July one,
nineteen hundred fifty-six.