CHAPTER 284

An Act to amend and reenact § 16.1-92 of the Code of Virginia, relating
to removal of certain actions from courts not of record. rH 518]

Approved March 15, 1960

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 16.1-92 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as
follows:

§ 16.1-92. When the amount in controversy in any action at law
except cases of unlawful entry and detainer in a court not of record exceeds
the sum of three hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, attorney’s fees con-
tracted for in the instrument, and costs, the judge shall, at any time on or
before the return day of the process, or within ten days after such return
day, if trial of the case has not commenced or if judgment has not been
rendered, upon the application of any defendant, the filing by him of an
affidavit of himself, his agent or attorney, that he has a substantial defense
to the action, and the payment by him of the costs accrued to the time of
removal, the writ tax as fixed by law, and the costs in the court to which
it is removed as fixed by subsection (59) of § 14-123, remove the action
and all the papers thereof to a court having jurisdiction of appeals from
the court wherein the action was brought; and the clerk if there be one,
or the judge if there be no clerk of the court, shall promptly transmit the
papers in the case and the writ tax and costs to the clerk of the court to
which the action is removed. If the defendant fails to pay the accrued costs,
writ tax, and the costs in the court to which the case is removed at the time
the application for removal is filed, the judge shall proceed to try the case.

On the trial of the case in the court of record the proceedings shall
conform as nearly as may be to proceedings prescribed by the Rules of
Court for other actions at law, but the court may permit all necessary
amendments, enter such orders, and direct such proceedings as may be
necessary or proper to correct any defects, irregularities and omissions in
the pleadings and bring about a trial of the merits of the controversy.