CHAPTER 121

AN ACT to amend and reenact §§ 17-119 and 17-119.1, as amended, of the
Code of Virginia, by providing for the creation of a new judicial circuit
under certain conditions, and the rearrangement of judicial circuits,
and by providing for additional judges in certain judicial circuits.

(S 46]
Approved February 26, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia: .

1. That §§ 17-119 ad 17-119.1, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, be
amended and reenacted as follows: _o.

§ 17-119. The State shall be divided into thirty-seven judicial circuits
as follows:

(1) The county of Norfolk shall constitute the first circuit.

(2) The counties of Nansemond and Southampton and the city of
Suffolk shall constitute the second circuit.

(3) The counties of Prince George, Sussex, Surry, Greensville and
Brunswick and the city of Hopewell shall constitute the third circuit.

(4) The counties of Dinwiddie, Nottoway, Amelia and Powhatan and
the city of Petersburg shall constitute the fourth circuit.

(5) The counties of Appomattox, Charlotte, Prince Edward, Buck-
ingham and Cumberland shall constitute the fifth circuit.

(6) The counties of Bedford and Campbell and the city of Lynchburg
shall constitute the sixth circuit.

(7) The counties of Henry and Patrick and the city of Martinsville
shall constitute the seventh circuit.

(8) The counties of Madison, Greene, Fluvanna and Albemarle and
the city of Charlottesville shall constitute the eighth circuit.

(9) The counties of Culpeper, Orange, Louisa and Goochland shall
constitute the ninth circuit.

(10) The county of Henrico and the city of Richmond shall constitute
the tenth circuit.

(11) The cities of Hampton and Newport News shall constitute the
eleventh circuit, provided that after July one, nineteen hundred and
sixty, the city of Hampton shall constitute the eleventh circuit.

(12) The counties of Richmond, Northumberland, Westmoreland,
Lancaster and Essex shall constitute the twelfth circuit.

(13) The counties of Gloucester, Mathews, King and Queen, King
William and Middlesex shall constitute the thirteenth circuit.

(14) The counties of New Kent, Charles City, York and James City
and the cities of Warwick and Williamsburg shall constitute the fourteenth
circuit, provided that after July one, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, the
counties of New Kent, Charles City, York and James City and the cities
of Newport News and Williamsburg shall constitute the fourteenth cir-
cuit until July one, nineteen hundred and sixty, when the city of New-
port News will cease to be a part of the fourteenth circuit.

(15) The counties of King George, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline
and ponies and the city of Fredericksburg shall constitute the fifteenth
circuit.

(16) The counties of Prince William and Fairfax and the city of
Alexandria shall constitute the sixteenth circuit.

(17) The counties of Frederick, Clarke, Warren and Shenandoah
shall constitute the seventeenth circuit.

(18) The counties of Augusta, Highland and Rockbridge and the
city of Buena Vista shall constitute the eighteenth circuit.

(19) The counties of Bath, Alleghany, Craig and Botetourt and the
city of Clifton Forge shall constitute the nineteenth circuit.

(20) The county of Roanoke and the city of Roanoke shall constitute
the twentieth circuit.
_. (21) The counties of Pulaski, Carroll, Wythe and Grayson shall con-
stitute the twenty-first circuit.

(22) The counties of Bland, Tazewell and Giles shall constitute the
twenty-second circuit.

(23) The counties of Washington and Smyth and the city of Bristol
shall constitute the twenty-third circuit.

(24) Until March fifteen, nineteen hundred fifty-eight, the counties
of Russell and Scott shall constitute the twenty-fourth circuit, provided
that on and after March fifteen, nineteen hundred fifty-eight, the counties
of Lee and Scott shall constitute the twenty-fourth circuit.

(25) The counties of Rockingham and Page shall constitute the
twenty-fifth circuit.

(26) The counties of Rappahannock, Fauquier and Loudoun shall
constitute the twenty-sixth circuit.

(27) Until March fifteen, nineteen hundred fifty-eight, the counties
of Buchanan and Dickenson shall constitute the twenty-seventh circuit,
provided that on and after March fifteen, nineteen hundred fifty-eight,
the counties of Buchanan, Dickenson and Russell shall constitute the
twenty-seventh circuit.

(28) The counties of Isle of Wight and Princess Anne and the city
of Portsmouth shall constitute the twenty-eighth circuit.

(29) The counties of Amherst and Nelson and the city of Waynesboro
shall constitute the twenty-ninth circuit.

_ (30) The counties of Franklin and Pittsylvania shall constitute the
thirtieth circuit.

(81) The counties of Accomack and Northampton shall constitute the
thirty-first circuit.

(32) The city of Norfolk shall constitute the thirty-second circuit.

(33) Until March fifteen, nineteen hundred fifty-eight, the counties
of Wise and Lee shall constitute the thirty-third circuit, provided that on
and after March fifteen, nineteen hundred fifty-eight, the county of Wise
shall constitute the thirty-third circuit.

., (34) The counties of Halifax, Mecklenburg and Lunenburg shall con-
stitute the thirty-fourth circuit.

(35) The county of Arlington shall constitute the thirty-fifth circuit.

(36) The counties of Floyd and Montgomery and the city of Radford
shall constitute the thirty-sixth circuit.

. (37) The county of Chesterfield shall constitute the thirty-seventh
circui

Should the Federal census of nineteen hundred and sixty or other
census provided for by law disclose that the counties of Hanover and
Caroline have a combined population in excess of forty thousand inhabi-
tants then the senior judge of the fifteenth circuit shall enter an order
tn the circuit courts of both of such counties setting out such fact. A certi-
fied copy of such order shall be transmitted by the clerk of each such court
to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who shall file and preserve the same
in the records of his office and shall report to the Governor at once the
fact that such counties have a combined population in excess of forty thou-
sand, as disclosed by such census. The Governor, upon receiving such
report, shall at once make proclamation of such fact, copies of which
proclamation shall be certified to the clerks of each of the courts then
constituting the fifteenth judicial circuit who shall endorse thereon the
date when received and record the same in the common law order books
of such courts.

After such proclamation has been recorded in the manner hereinabove
provided, the counties of Hanover and Caroline shall constitute the fifteenth
judicial circuit, and the counties of King George, Stafford and Spotsyl-
vania and the city of Fredericksburg shall become and constitute a new
judicial circuit, designated and known as the thirty-eighth circuit.

In such event, the Governor shall designate which of the judges of
the fifteenth judicial circuit shall continue to be the judge of that circuit,
and which of such judges shall be the judge of the new thirty-eighth judicial
circuit composed of the counties of King George, Stafford and Spotsylvania
and the city of Fredericksburg.

§ 17-119.1. (a) For each judicial circuit consisting wholly of a county
having a density of population, according to the last preceding United
States census, of more than two thousand persons per square mile, and (b)
for each judicial circuit adjoining such circuit, an additional circuit court
judge shall be chosen who shall during his tenure reside within the circuit
and whose compensation and powers, except as hereinafter provided, shall
be the same as now and hereafter prescribed for circuit judges, provided,
however, that in each of the aforesaid judicial circuits having an additional
circuit court judge, (c) there shall be chosen for each, respectively, another
additional circuit court judge who shall, during his tenure, reside within
the circuit and whose compensation and powers, except as hereinafter
provided, shall be the same as now and hereafter prescribed for circuit
judges or additional judges, as the case may be. (d) For each judicial cir-
cuit containing a city incorporated since the last preceding United States
census and having a population of more than thirty-eight thousand but
less than forty thousand, and (e) for each judicial circuit containing a city
having more than sixty-five thousand but less than ninety thousand popu-
lation, an additional circuit judge shall be chosen who shall during his
tenure reside within the circuit and whose compensation and powers, except
as hereinafter provided, shall be the same as now and hereafter prescribed
for circuit judges. The office, and vacancies occurring therein, shall be
filled in the manner and for the term provided by general law for the filling
of vacancies in the office of judges of circuit courts or for choosing the
judge when a new or additional circuit has been created.

On and after March fifteen, nineteen hundred fifty-eight (f) for each
judicial circuit containing a city having a population of more than twelve
thousand one hundred but less than twelve thousand two hundred and (g)
for each judicial circuit containing a city having a population of more than
ten thousand two hundred but less than ten thousand three hundred, and
(h) for each judicial circuit containing a county having a population of
more than thirty-five thousand five hundred but less than thirty-six thou-
sand, and on and after January one, nineteen hundred fifty-nine, (i) for
each judicial circuit consisting only of a single city, there shall be an addi-
tional circuit judge who shall during his tenure reside within the circuit and
whose compensation and powers, except as hereinafter provided, shall be
the same as now and hereafter prescribed for circuit judges. The office,
and vacancies occurring therein, shall be filled in the manner and for the
term provided by general law for the filling of vacancies in the office of
judges of circuit courts or for choosing the judge when a new or addi-
tional circuit has been created.

In any such judicial circuit where an additional judge is authorized
and chosen under the provisions hereof, the judge who is senior in point of
service * as judge of the circuit for which he is so chosen shall be the senior
judge of the circuit and shall have authority to assign the work of the
circuit as between judges, but no order of court shall be necessary to estab-
lish the authority of either judge to act.

Except as hereinafter provided, the senior judge shall exclusively
exercise all powers of appointment conferred upon circuit judges, except
the appointment of guardians ad litem, guardians for infants, guardians
or committees for insane or incompetents, receivers, personal representa-
tives, counsel for indigents and any other appointment incident to the
trial, hearing or disposition of any cause or action to be determined or
acted upon by the court, which powers shall be exercised concurrently
by the judges. ; -
In each judicial circuit consisting wholly of a county having a density
of population of more than two thousand persons per square mile, the
senior judge and any additional judge or judges thereof shall exercise
jointly all powers of appointment conferred upon circuit judges, except
the appointment of guardians ad litem, guardians for infants, guardians
or committees for insane or incompetents, receivers, personal representa-
tives, counsel for indigents and any other appointment incident to the
trial, hearing or disposition of any cause or action to be determined or
acted upon by the court, which powers shall be exercised concurrently by
the judges. Appointments by such judges on matters relating to such
joint exercise of powers of appointment shall be in accordance with a ma-
jority vote of all such judges. In the event they are not able to obtain a
majority the senior judge may make the appointment.
2. Anemergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.