Title 16.1, Title 16.1. Courts Not of Record

The clerk and deputy clerks shall be conservators of the peace within the territory for which the court has jurisdiction, and may, within such judicial district, issue warrants, detention orders, and other processes, original, mesne and final, both civil and criminal, commit to j…

A. The Supreme Court shall by rule, which may from time to time be amended, supplemented or repealed, but which shall be uniform in its application throughout the Commonwealth, designate the traffic infractions for which a pretrial waiver of appearance, plea of guilty and fine pa…

A. The Supreme Court shall by rule, which may from time to time be amended, supplemented or repealed, but which shall be uniform in its application throughout the Commonwealth, designate the nontraffic offenses for which a pretrial waiver of appearance, plea of guilty and fine pa…

The judge of each district court shall have management responsibility over the collection and distribution of all funds received by such court; provided, however, that no judge or clerk shall incur personal liability for a shortage in such funds unless such shortage is a result o…

The clerk of a district court may, when authorized so to do by the judge of the court he serves, execute appeal bonds in appeals from judgment of the court. Any such clerk may make out and attest transcripts of the papers and records of the court for use in evidence elsewhere.

No rule shall hereafter be promulgated under the limitations of § 8.01-4 or otherwise, which would avoid or preclude the judge before whom an accused is arraigned in criminal cases from hearing all aspects of the case on its merits, or to avoid or preclude any judge in any case w…

Each district court judge shall be paid by the Commonwealth an annual salary that shall be fixed in the general appropriation acts and set at an amount equal to 90 percent of the annual salary fixed by state law for judges of the circuit courts. Each substitute judge of a distric…

The Committee on District Courts shall fix the salaries for the clerks and personnel of the district courts. Any county or city may supplement the salaries of the clerks and other personnel of the district court wholly out of local funds. However, no supplements may be paid to fu…

All salaries determined according to the provisions of §§ 16.1-69.44 and 16.1-69.45 and any salary payment required by § 16.1-69.37 shall be payable by the Commonwealth, except any supplements paid to district court employees. All annual salaries shall be paid in semimonthly inst…

Any judge or clerk traveling more than five miles from the courthouse in the city or county in which he resides on court business shall be entitled to reimbursement by the Commonwealth for such of his actual expenses as are necessarily and ordinarily incidental to such travel. If…

A. All fees collected by the judge, substitute judge, clerk or employees, but not including fees belonging to officers other than the judge, clerk or employees, of a general district court or juvenile and domestic relations district court shall be paid promptly to the clerk of th…

A. Assessment of the fees provided for in this section shall be based on (i) an appearance for court hearing in which there has been a finding of guilty; (ii) a written appearance with waiver of court hearing and entry of guilty plea; (iii) for a defendant failing to appear, a tr…

Beginning May 1, 2003, the clerk shall assess a person, in addition to the fees provided for by § 16.1-69.48:1, a fee of $100 upon conviction of any and each charge of a violation of §§ 18.2-36.1, 18.2-51.4, 18.2-266, 18.2-266.1, 18.2-268.3, 46.2-341.24 or § 46.2-341.26:3, or any…

In addition to the fees provided for by § 16.1-69.48:1, upon a finding of guilty of any charge or charges in which any computer forensic analysis revealed evidence used at trial of a defendant, the defendant may be assessed costs in an amount equal to the actual cost of the compu…

Fees in civil cases for services performed by the judges or clerks of general district courts or magistrates in the event any such services are performed by magistrates in civil cases shall be as provided in this section, and, unless otherwise provided, shall be included in the t…

Whenever in a general district court the costs provided for in subsection C of § 16.1-69.48:1 are assessed for a violation of any provision of Article 1 (§ 18.2-247 et seq.) of Chapter 7 of Title 18.2, a portion of the costs, as specified in subsection C of § 16.1-69.48:1, shall …

The provisions of Chapter 6 (§ 17.1-600 et seq.) of Title 17.1 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the laws of costs in the district courts.

Except as otherwise provided, upon the initial commencement of any case in the juvenile and domestic relations district court pursuant to subdivision A 3 of § 16.1-241 when the custody or visitation of a child is a subject of controversy or requires determination, there shall be …

The court shall order any person convicted of a misdemeanor violation of § 18.2-346.01 or of § 18.2-348 or 18.2-349 to pay a $100 fee, which shall be deposited into the Virginia Prevention of Sex Trafficking Fund to be used in accordance with § 9.1-116.4.

Each county and city having a general district court or juvenile and domestic relations district court shall provide suitable quarters for such court and its clerk and social services staff and a suitable room or rooms for the sessions of the court at the places designated for su…

The Commonwealth shall provide dockets and other books, stationery and supplies necessary for the efficient operation of all district courts. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Committee on District Courts, after consultation with the Executive Secretary of the Supre…

There shall be displayed inside each courtroom of all district courts in the cities and counties of the Commonwealth the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The governing bodies of the respective counties and cities shall make provis…

As used in this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "Court records" shall include case records, financial records and administrative records as defined in this section. "Case records" shall mean all documents, dockets and indices. "Documents" shall mea…

A. Each district court shall retain and store its court records as provided in this article. The Committee on District Courts, after consultation with the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, shall determine the methods of processing, retention, reproduction and …

A. For the purposes of this section, "confidential court records," "court records," and "nonconfidential court records" shall have the same meaning as set forth in § 17.1-292. B. Requests for copies of nonconfidential court records maintained in individual case files shall be mad…

A. Criminal and traffic infraction proceedings: 1. In misdemeanor and traffic infraction cases, except misdemeanor cases under § 16.1-253.2, 18.2-57.2, or 18.2-60.4, all documents shall be retained for 10 years, including cases sealed in expungement proceedings under § 19.2-392.2…

Appropriate retention periods for the financial and administrative records of the district courts and magistrates shall be prescribed by the Supreme Court of Virginia. In the case of financial records only, the retention period prescribed by the court shall be subject to approval…

The clerk of each district court shall destroy the court records upon expiration of the appropriate retention period as set forth in §§ 16.1-69.55 and 16.1-69.56 and consistent with the requirements of confidentiality for juvenile records. The Supreme Court shall determine the me…

The Committee on District Courts, after consultation with the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, shall determine the methods for processing, retention and reproduction of court records and all other records required by statute to be retained in the district courts and for …

In all civil actions over which the general district courts have jurisdiction pursuant to § 16.1-77, venue shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 5 (§ 8.01-257 et seq.) of Title 8.01.

Except as provided in Article 5 (§ 16.1-122.1 et seq.), each general district court shall have, within the limits of the territory it serves, civil jurisdiction as follows: (1) Exclusive original jurisdiction of any claim to specific personal property or to any debt, fine, or oth…

A general district court may, on motion, after 10 days' notice of the time and place thereof, give judgment on any forthcoming bond taken by a sheriff or other officer upon a fieri facias issued by such court.

Every general district court shall have jurisdiction of proceedings for partition of personal property, within the limits as to value and in accordance with the provisions hereinafter contained. When joint owners of personal property of the value of more than $20 but not more tha…

None of the provisions of § 16.1-77 shall affect the right of any person to obtain judgment by confession in any court of record having jurisdiction thereof, or in the clerk's office of any such court, when such right exists under some other statute or act, on any claim for money…

Subject to the limitations prescribed in Chapter 17 (§ 8.01-426 et seq.) of Title 8.01, additional executions may be issued as provided in § 8.01-475. Such executions shall be issued by the judge or clerk of the general district court and shall be returned to the court in which s…

If an officer fail to make due return of any execution issued from a court not of record, he may, on motion of the plaintiff and after ten days' notice, be fined from time to time by the judge of such court in an amount not less than five nor more than twenty dollars for each off…

If, after the return day of an execution issued on a judgment rendered by a court not of record, an officer shall collect money or take possession of property under such execution, he and his sureties shall be liable for such money or property in like manner as if it had been col…

Whenever a fieri facias has been issued upon a judgment rendered in a general district court the judge or clerk of the court may issue the summons provided for in § 8.01-506. In such case the judge of the general district court shall have all of the powers and authority respectin…

The proceedings on any attachment brought in a court not of record shall conform to the provisions of Chapter 20 (§ 8.01-533 et seq.) of Title 8.01, but if an attachment is returned executed and the defendant has not been served with a copy thereof, and the amount claimed in the …

A. From any order entered or judgment rendered in a court not of record in a civil case in which the matter in controversy is of greater value than $20, exclusive of interest, any attorney fees contracted for in the instrument, and costs, or when the case involves the constitutio…

A. A party who has appealed a final judgment or order rendered by a general district court or a juvenile and domestic relations district court in a civil case may seek to withdraw that appeal at any time. 1. If the appeal has not been perfected by posting a required appeal bond o…

A. No appeal shall be allowed unless and until the party applying for the same or someone for him shall give bond, in an amount and with sufficient surety approved by the judge or by his clerk if there is one, or in an amount sufficient to satisfy the judgment of the court in whi…

In lieu of giving bond with surety as provided in this article, any party appealing from the judgment or order of the court may deposit with the judge or clerk thereof, who shall issue his official receipt therefor, such sum of money as the judge or clerk may estimate to be suffi…

A. The court to which the appeal is taken may on motion for good cause shown, after reasonable notice to the appellant, require the appellant to give new or additional security, and if such security be not given within the time prescribed by the appellate court the appeal shall b…

No surety in any appeal bond given by the appellant shall be released by the appellant's being adjudicated a bankrupt at any time subsequent to the judgment rendered in the court not of record, but such surety shall be entitled to make any defense on the trial of the appeal that …

The party taking an appeal may, when there is more than one court having jurisdiction, direct to which of such courts the appeal shall be sent for trial, but in the absence of such directions the judge or clerk shall send the same to any court having jurisdiction.