CHAPTER 578

AN ACT to amend and reenact §§ 16.1-87 and 16.1-91 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to dockets and other records in courts not of record.

[S 186:
Approved March 29, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 16.1-87 and 16.1-91 of the Code of Virginia be amended and re-
enacted as follows:

§ 16.1-87. For each court not of record having jurisdiction of civil
actions there shall be a civil docket, on which shall be entered all civil
actions or proceedings before the court, except those in which the motion,
warrant or other process has not been served or those which have been
settled or dismissed prior to trial. The docket shall show the names of the
parties, the kind of action brought, the date on which the action was re-
turnable or from which it has been continued, the disposition made thereof
by the court, and the date on which any judgment is rendered or other
action taken.

§ 16.1-91. Upon the return of the warrant or motion for judgment
to the court with the return of the officer thereon showing service on one
or more of the defendants it shall be given a number by the judge or clerk,
which shall be the case number for that particular warrant or motion and
all other papers relating to that particular case. Cases shall be numbered
consecutively, and the case number of each shall be placed upon the papers
and upon the court docket and other records where the case appears; pro-
vided, however, that in any case in which the judge or clerk shall be noti-
fied that the matters in controversy have been settled or that the proceeding
ts to be dismissed before the court docket is prepared, the same shall not be
included thereon; provided, that the provisions of § 14-138 shall apply as
to any fees theretofore collected in connection with any such case. Any
papers served upon the defendant or defendants and returned to such
court in any such settled or dismissed case shall be returned to the de-
fendant or, in the case of two or more defendants, to the defendant whose
name first appears on such papers, either by mail to the last known
address of such defendant or by delivery of such papers to such de-
fendant. Whenever any action or other proceeding is disposed of by
the court, all papers in the case shall be placed in an envelope or jacket
which shall bear the number of the case, or securely fastened together and
numbered, and all such envelopes or jackets or bundles of papers shall be
filed in consecutive order and preserved as provided by law. All writs
of fieri facias or other writs issued in the case shall bear the case number,
and upon being returned to the court or clerk’s office shall be placed with
the other papers. In each such court there shall be kept a case index on
which there shall be listed in alphabetical order the names of all defend-
ants, and if the judge of the court so directs, the names separately of all
plaintiffs, using a separate line or column for each, and the case number
assigned to the proceeding in which the plaintiff or defendant, respectively,
appears.