a fair classified list of all licenses granted by him within the last preceding six months, embracing all such licenses as were not contained in any preceding report; and if no licenses were issued he shall report the fact, on oath, at the time aforesaid. In each class of licenses the names of the persons licensed shall also be arranged alphabetically; and such list shall specify the date of each license and the time it terminates; for what it was granted; the name of the person, firm, or company to whom granted; the amount of tax on the license; to whom paid; and if paid to the deputy of any county or city treasurer, shall state also the name of his principal; and shall also show the data on which his calculation of the tax was made. It shall be the duty of the auditor of public accounts to furnish to each commissioner printed forms and oaths for authenticating such lists or reports as above indicated, and the commissioner shall make report according to such forms. Any commissioner failing to make such report at the times specified shall forfeit not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars, and unless a reasonable excuse is given shall forfeit all compensation to be received from the treasury. Sec. 560. [92 Va. 818.] Sec. 569. Treasurer restrained from collecting; how money re- As Amended 1897-8, p 70. funded. An order of exoneration made as aforesaid, when delivered to the treasurer, shall restrain him from collecting so much as is thus erroneously charged, or if the same has already been collected shall compel him to refund the money if such officer has not already paid it into the treasury; and either way, when properly endorsed by the applicant it shall be a sufficient voucher to entitle the officer to a credit for so much in his settlement with the auditor of public accounts: provided, that no such order of exoneration or order refunding money shall be granted unless the application be made within the time as prescribed by section five hundred and sixty-seven of the code. Sec. 573. Appeal and supersedeas allowed the state; proceedings As Amended in and judgments of circuit court.-If from the statements of the 1897-8, p. 948. facts or other evidence the auditor of public accounts shall be of opinion that the order of the court granting the redress, when made by the court of the county, is erroneous, he may advise an appeal to the circuit court of said county. Such appeal shall be granted as matter of right by the said circuit court, or by the judge thereof in vacation, on petition, in the name and on the behalf of the commonwealth presented within one year after the order was made, and when granted shall operate as a supersedeas. The petition shall be presented and the appeal prosecuted by the attorney for the commonwealth of the said county. The case may be heard and decided by the judge in vacation at the instance of either party on reasonable notice to the other. Service of notice on the attorney for the commonwealth shall be a sufficient service on the commonwealth; at the hearing, whether in term or vacation, witnesses may be examined and the case heard de novo, and the court or judge shall make such order therein as may be proper; and if in vacation the judge shall certify the order to the clerk of his court, who shall enter the same on his order book on the law side of the court, and the order so entered shall have the same force as if made and entered by the court in term. No costs shall be adjudged against the commonwealth on the appeal, but costs may in the discretion of the court or judge be awarded against the commissioner of the revenue who made the assessment if the same be erroneous; and in all cases where the order granting the redress is made by a corporation court the auditor of public accounts may within one year from the time such order is made file a petition for a rehearing of such application; said petition may be filed in said court or with the judge thereof in vacation, and shall be in the name of the commonwealth, and the filing of the same shall operate as a supersedeas, and the matter shall thereupon be reheard in said court and witnesses examined in the same manner as if no previous hearing had been had. The petition shall be presented and the rehearing conducted by the attorney for the commonwealth of the said corporation court. At the hearing the court shall make such order thereon as may be proper, and costs may be awarded in the same manner as heretofore provided in this section. And should the order of the court be against the commonwealth the auditor of public accounts may take an appeal to the supreme court of appeals, and a supersedeas may be granted in such case in the same manner as now provided by law in cases other than cases of appeal of right. As Amended 1897-8, p. 277. 84 Va. 619. As Amended 1889-90, p. 157. CHAPTER XXV. TO PROVIDE FOR SUBMITTING THE QUESTION OF LIQUOR LICENSE TO THE Sec. 581. Upon what petition court may order election in county, district, or city; notice to be posted thirty days; by whom election held; after one election two years shall elapse before another.— Whenever such of the qualified voters of each magisterial district in a county or any magisterial district in a county or of a city as constitute one-fourth of the persons voting at the preceding regular November election in such county, district, or corporation shall in term or vacation petition the judge of the county or corporation court of such county or corporation for a special election in such county, district, or corporation on the question of granting or not granting a liquor license therein, such court or judge shall within ten days after the receipt of said petition issue a writ of election, in which shall be fixed the day of holding such election, directed to the sheriff of his county or sergeant of his corporation, as the case may be, whose duty it shall be to forthwith post a notice of said election at each voting precinct in said county if the election is to be held in the whole county, or at each voting precinct in any magisterial district when the election is ordered to be held only in such magisterial district, or at each voting precinct in said corporation. He shall also give notice to the officers charged with the duty of conducting other elections in said county, magisterial district, or city, as the case may be; but no election shall be held under this chapter within less than thirty days from the posting of such notices as aforesaid. Said special elections shall be held and conducted as other special elections are held and conducted. After any such election has been held in any county, magisterial district, or city there shall not be another election under this chapter held in said county, magisterial district, or city within two years, and except in Washington county, where there shall be no other election under this chapter held within five years. Sec. 585. How elections ordered in a town; if a majority against license none is to be granted.-If any town constituting a separate election district shall desire to avail itself of the provisions of this chapter, a *For general provisions as to liquor licenses see acts 1889-'90, page 242, and acts amendatory thereto, all of which are compiled and published as a part of the tax laws of the commonwealth by the auditor of public accounts immediately after the adjournment of each session of the legislature. petition of such of the qualified voters of such town as constitute onefourth of the persons voting at the preceding regular November election may be presented, in term or vacation, to the judge of the county or corporation court having jurisdiction of said town, who shall thereupon order a special election in conformity with the provisions of the four preceding sections; and if it appear from the abstracts and returns that a majority of the votes cast at such election were against liquor license, no license shall be granted for the sale of wine, spirituous or malt liquors, or any mixture thereof, within the corporate limits of such town. Sec. 587. NOTE.-The latter provision of this section is changed by the following amendment to the original "local option" law [see code, section 4203]: "This act shall be construed to prohibit distillers of alcoholic liquors or Extra Session 1887, p. 434. manufacturers of wine or malt liquors from selling and delivering any 84 Va. 582, 619. such liquors or wines in any county, magisterial district, or corporation voting as aforesaid against the sale of intoxicating liquors therein." 89 Va. 154. 90 Va. 92. CHAPTER XXVI. OF TAXES ON PROCESS IN SUITS, OFFICIAL SEALS, DEEDS, WILLS, AND Sec. 588 a. To prescribe the mode in which clerks of courts shall 1897-8, p. 847. keep a record of all taxes and other public moneys collected by them, and to require them to pay the same into the treasury.-1. The auditor of public accounts be and he hereby is directed to furnish the clerk of each court of record in the commonwealth a book in which shall be entered all taxes and other money belonging to the commonwealth collected or which should be collected by said clerk, which book shall be a record of the court of which he is clerk. The said book shall be so ruled that the taxes on deeds, suits, wills, administrations, and so forth, and other public money collected may be placed in appropriate columns. 2. It shall be the duty of the clerk at the time he collects or is required by statute to collect any public money to enter the same upon said book. 3. It shall be the duty of the attorney for the commonwealth, on the first day of each month to examine said book and compare the entries made therein during the preceding month with the records of the court and clerk's office, and having found the entries correct to certify that fact below the last entry, stating in the certificate the aggregate amount of money embraced in said entries. 4. It shall be the duty of each clerk, on the twenty-eighth day of February and the thirty-first day of August, to make out a statement upon forms prepared by the auditor of public accounts of all taxes and other money belonging to the commonwealth collected or which should have been collected by him during the preceding six months, which statement, having been by the attorney for the commonwealth compared with the said record book, shall be signed by said attorney and said clerk and sent by said clerk to the auditor of public accounts. And the clerk shall forthwith pay the amount collected by him or which should have been collected by him into the treasury, after deducting a commission of five per centum thereon. For other provisions concerning tax on suits, seals, &c., see acts 1889-'90, page 197, and acts amendatory thereto, all of which are compiled and published as a part of the tax laws of the commonwealth by the auditor of public accounts immediately after the adjournment of each session of the legislature. Extra Session 1887, p. 495. As Amended 1891-2, p. 434. As Amended 1889-90, p. 72. 5. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. 6. This act shall go into effect the thirty-first day of August, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. Sec. 593 a. To regulate the assessment and collection of taxes in the hands of notaries public and clerks of courts.-It shall be the duty of each notary public, between the first day of September and the first day of October of each year, to furnish to the commissioner of the revenue of the city or county for which he is commissioned as such notary public (and if there be more than one commissioner of the revenue to either at his pleasure) a detailed statement under oath of all taxes which have been or should have been collected by such notary in the twelve months preceding said first day of September; and each clerk of any court whose office is located in such district shall each year, within the dates aforesaid, in like manner furnish to such commissioner a similar statement showing in detail all taxes, fines, and other public moneys with which any such clerk is chargeable during the twelve months preceding said first day of September of each year. Within the time limited in the first section said commissioner of the revenue shall assess and make out in duplicate a statement of all taxes due by such notaries public, and all taxes, fines, and other public moneys with which every such clerk is chargeable, and shall state the same upon blanks furnished him for the purpose, and shall on or before the fifteenth day of October of each year send one copy of every such assessment to the auditor of public accounts, and in case of a notary public shall file one copy of said report in the treasurer's office of the county or corporation, and in case of a clerk of a court he shall file one copy in the office of said clerk: provided, however, that as to counties whose clerks' offices are located within the limits of incorporated cities, the commissioners of the revenue who are directed to examine said offices by the preceding section, and to whom the clerk of any court in said county is directed by this section to report, shall be the commissioner of the revenue of said county if there be but one such commissioner, and if there be more than one the commissioner of the revenue for that district in said county which lies contiguous to said city in which said office is located. Sec. 596. Treasurer to collect from notary; how delinquents allowed. The treasurer shall collect the amount due from each notary in his county or city as other taxes are collected and pay the same into the treasury within ninety days from the receipt of the report from the commissioner, the notary being entitled to retain a commission of five per centum for receiving and paying the same. He shall return to the court of his county or corporation a list, under oath, of all taxes which he has been unable to collect from such notaries, and if the court certify that he could not by the use of due diligence collect the same the auditor shall credit him with the amount so returned delinquent, provided the said list and certificate be presented to the auditor within two months after the expiration of the time prescribed for the collection of such taxes. Sec. 601. When clerks to pay into the treasury; their commissions.— All sums received by any clerk under this chapter, after deducting a commission of five per centum thereon, shall be paid into the treasury on or before the fifteenth day of December next after he shall have made out a statement thereof pursuant to section five hundred and ninety-two: provided, that whenever the aggregate amount of taxes, fines, and other public moneys in the hands of the clerk at any time shall exceed the sum of five hundred dollars he shall, after deducting a commission of five per centum thereon, immediately pay the same into the treasury, although he may not have made out the statement aforesaid. In case of failure so to pay proceedings shall be had according to the provisions of chapter thirty. Sec. 601 a. To require the clerk of any circuit, county, or corpora- 1889-90, p. 77. tion court to remit to the auditor whenever funds due the state in their hands shall amount to five hundred dollars.-Every clerk of any circuit, county, or corporation court, whenever the amount of funds in his hands due the state shall amount to five hundred dollars, shall remit the same to the auditor of public accounts by certified check, made payable to the treasurer, or as otherwise provided by law, such payment to be credited to him and allowed in his annual settlement. CHAPTER XXVII. COLLECTION OF TAXES. Amendment Sec. 603. When to receive them; shall advertise time and place; As Amended 1897-8, p. 671. penalty on tax-payers after first of December; treasurer to call on Previous each tax-payer; when they may distrain.-Each treasurer shall com- 1897-8, p. 25. mence to receive the state taxes and county and city levies on or before the first day of July of each year, or as soon thereafter as he may receive copies of the commissioner's books, and continue to receive the same up to the first day of December thereafter; and for this purpose each county treasurer shall advertise for at least ten days at the court-house and at the voting places in the magisterial districts, and in such manner as may be necessary to give general publicity thereto, upon what days he will be at some convenient public places in each magisterial district to receive taxes and levies; and shall, at the time specified, go to the places so designated and remain there not less than three days for the purpose of receiving the state taxes and county levies, and shall receive the same, and so forth. Any person failing to pay any state taxes or county and city levies to the treasurer by the first day of December shall incur a penalty thereon of five per centum, which shall be added to the amount of taxes or levies due from such tax-payer, which, when collected by the treasurer, shall be accounted for in his settlements. It shall be the duty of the treasurer, after the first day of December, to call upon each person chargeable with taxes and levies who has not paid the same prior to that time, or upon the agent, if any, of such person resident within the county or corporation, for payment thereof; and upon failure or refusal of such person or agent to pay the same he shall proceed to collect them by distress or otherwise provided, that should it come to the knowledge of the treasurer that any such person or persons owing such taxes or levies is moving or contemplates moving from the county or corporation prior to the first day of December he shall have power to collect the same by distress or otherwise at any time after such said bills shall have come into his hands: provided, further, that it shall not be necessary for the treasurer of the county of Henrico to designate or to go to any place other than the county court-house in the city of Richmond in order to receive the taxes and levies to be paid to such treasurer. Sec. 604 a. Requiring the auditor of public accounts to make a state- As Amended ment annually showing an accounting of the county and city treasurers 1895-6, p. 750. Original Act with the state who are in arrears, and prescribing the manner in 1895-6, p. 240. which the same shall be made public.—Whereas during every session of the general assembly it is developed that some of the county or city treasurers are in arrears to the state on account of collection of taxes, |