{"formats":[{"name":"JSON","format":"json","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-json\/10.1-1000.json"},{"name":"Plain Text","format":"text","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-text\/10.1-1000.txt"},{"name":"XML","format":"xml","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-xml\/10.1-1000.xml"},{"name":"HTML","format":"html","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-html\/10.1-1000.html"}],"law_id":81377,"edition_id":1,"section_id":81377,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1000","catch_line":"Definitions","history":"1979, c. 252, \u00a7 10-150.12; 1988, c. 891.","full_text":"As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t“Board” means the Cave Board.\n\t\t“Cave” means any naturally occurring void, cavity, recess, or system of interconnecting passages beneath the surface of the earth or within a cliff or ledge including natural subsurface water and drainage systems, but not including any mine, tunnel, aqueduct, or other man-made excavation, which is large enough to permit a person to enter. The word “cave” includes or is synonymous with cavern, sinkhole, natural pit, grotto, and rock shelter.\n\t\t“Cave life” means any rare or endangered animal or other life form which normally occurs in, uses, visits, or inhabits any cave or subterranean water system.\n\t\t“Commercial cave” means any cave utilized by the owner for the purposes of exhibition to the general public as a profit or nonprofit enterprise, wherein a fee is collected for entry.\n\t\t“Gate” means any structure or device located to limit or prohibit access or entry to any cave.\n\t\t“Material” means all or any part of any archaeological, paleontological, biological, or historical item including, but not limited to, any petroglyph, pictograph, basketry, human remains, tool, beads, pottery, projectile point, remains of historical mining activity or any other occupation found in any cave.\n\t\t“Owner” means a person who owns title to land where a cave is located, including a person who owns title to a leasehold estate in such land, and including the Commonwealth and any of its agencies, departments, boards, bureaus, commissions, or authorities, as well as counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions of the Commonwealth.\n\t\t“Person” means any individual, partnership, firm, association, trust, or corporation or other legal entity.\n\t\t“Sinkhole” means a closed topographic depression or basin, generally draining underground, including, but not restricted to, a doline, uvala, blind valley, or sink.\n\t\t“Speleogen” means an erosional feature of the cave boundary and includes or is synonymous with anastomoses, scallops, rills, flutes, spongework, and pendants.\n\t\t“Speleothem” means a natural mineral formation or deposit occurring in a cave. This includes or is synonymous with stalagmite, stalactite, helectite, shield, anthodite, gypsum flower and needle, angel’s hair, soda straw, drapery, bacon, cave pearl, popcorn (coral), rimstone dam, column, palette, flowstone, et cetera. Speleothems are commonly composed of calcite, epsomite, gypsum, aragonite, celestite, and other similar minerals.","order_by":null,"text":{"0":{"id":291623,"text":"As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t“Board” means the Cave Board.\n\t\t“Cave” means any naturally occurring void, cavity, recess, or system of interconnecting passages beneath the surface of the earth or within a cliff or ledge including natural subsurface water and drainage systems, but not including any mine, tunnel, aqueduct, or other man-made excavation, which is large enough to permit a person to enter. The word “cave” includes or is synonymous with cavern, sinkhole, natural pit, grotto, and rock shelter.\n\t\t“Cave life” means any rare or endangered animal or other life form which normally occurs in, uses, visits, or inhabits any cave or subterranean water system.\n\t\t“Commercial cave” means any cave utilized by the owner for the purposes of exhibition to the general public as a profit or nonprofit enterprise, wherein a fee is collected for entry.\n\t\t“Gate” means any structure or device located to limit or prohibit access or entry to any cave.\n\t\t“Material” means all or any part of any archaeological, paleontological, biological, or historical item including, but not limited to, any petroglyph, pictograph, basketry, human remains, tool, beads, pottery, projectile point, remains of historical mining activity or any other occupation found in any cave.\n\t\t“Owner” means a person who owns title to land where a cave is located, including a person who owns title to a leasehold estate in such land, and including the Commonwealth and any of its agencies, departments, boards, bureaus, commissions, or authorities, as well as counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions of the Commonwealth.\n\t\t“Person” means any individual, partnership, firm, association, trust, or corporation or other legal entity.\n\t\t“Sinkhole” means a closed topographic depression or basin, generally draining underground, including, but not restricted to, a doline, uvala, blind valley, or sink.\n\t\t“Speleogen” means an erosional feature of the cave boundary and includes or is synonymous with anastomoses, scallops, rills, flutes, spongework, and pendants.\n\t\t“Speleothem” means a natural mineral formation or deposit occurring in a cave. This includes or is synonymous with stalagmite, stalactite, helectite, shield, anthodite, gypsum flower and needle, angel’s hair, soda straw, drapery, bacon, cave pearl, popcorn (coral), rimstone dam, column, palette, flowstone, et cetera. Speleothems are commonly composed of calcite, epsomite, gypsum, aragonite, celestite, and other similar minerals.","type":"section","prefixes":[""],"prefix":"","entire_prefix":"","prefix_anchor":"","level":1}},"ancestry":[{"id":14468,"edition_id":1,"name":"Cave Protection Act","identifier":"10","label":"chapter","depth":3,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12893,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:48:14","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:48:14","permalink":{"id":143473,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":14468,"identifier":"10","token":"10.1\/I\/10","url":"\/10.1\/I\/10\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12893,"edition_id":1,"name":"Activities Administered by the Department of Conservation and Recreation","identifier":"I","label":"subtitle","depth":2,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12740,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:59","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:59","permalink":{"id":143315,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12893,"identifier":"I","token":"10.1\/I","url":"\/10.1\/I\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12740,"edition_id":1,"name":"Conservation","identifier":"10.1","label":"title","depth":1,"order_by":1,"parent_id":null,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:51","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:51","permalink":{"id":143313,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12740,"identifier":"10.1","token":"10.1","url":"\/10.1\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}}],"structure_contents":[{"id":81377,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1000","catch_line":"Definitions","url":"\/10.1-1000\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1000","metadata":false},{"id":55851,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1001","catch_line":"Cave Board; qualifications; officers","url":"\/10.1-1001\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1001","metadata":false},{"id":79694,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1002","catch_line":"Powers and duties of Cave Board","url":"\/10.1-1002\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1002","metadata":false},{"id":83857,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1003","catch_line":"Permits for excavation and scientific investigation; how obtained; penalties","url":"\/10.1-1003\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1003","metadata":false},{"id":68726,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1004","catch_line":"Vandalism; penalties","url":"\/10.1-1004\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1004","metadata":false},{"id":58884,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1005","catch_line":"Pollution; penalties","url":"\/10.1-1005\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1005","metadata":false},{"id":82069,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1006","catch_line":"Disturbance of naturally occurring organisms; scientific collecting permits; penalties","url":"\/10.1-1006\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1006","metadata":false},{"id":68345,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1007","catch_line":"Sale of speleothems; penalties","url":"\/10.1-1007\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1007","metadata":false},{"id":82450,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1008","catch_line":"Liability of owners and agents limited; sovereign immunity of Commonwealth not waived","url":"\/10.1-1008\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1008","metadata":false}],"next_section":{"id":55851,"structure_id":14468,"section_number":"10.1-1001","catch_line":"Cave Board; qualifications; officers","url":"\/10.1-1001\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1001","metadata":false},"metadata":false,"official_url":"https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/vacode\/10.1-1000\/","history_text":"

This law was first created in 1979. The record of its establishment is cataloged in chapter 252 of that year\u2019s edition of \u201cActs of Assembly,\u201d the annual state publication listing all changes made to the Code of Virginia in that year. Unfortunately, the 1979 \u201cActs\u201d aren\u2019t available online. It has been modified 1 time. Those modifications are cataloged by \u201cThe Acts of Assembly,\u201d a state publication, by year and chapter. Those modifications that can be read on the General Assembly\u2019s website will be linked accordingly. That modification is as follows: in 1988, chapter 891.<\/p>","references":[{"id":82104,"section_number":"10.1-104.02","catch_line":"Policies for consultation with federally recognized Tribal Nations in the Commonwealth","order_by":null,"url":"\/10.1-104.02\/"}],"refers_to":false,"permalink":{"id":143475,"object_type":"law","relational_id":81377,"identifier":"10.1-1000","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1000","url":"\/10.1-1000\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1},"url":"\/10.1-1000\/","token":"10.1\/I\/10\/10.1-1000","dublin_core":{"Title":"Definitions","Type":"Text","Format":"text\/html","Identifier":"\u00a7 10.1-1000","Relation":"Code of Virginia"},"html":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t“Board<\/span>” means the Cave Board<\/span>.\n\t\t“Cave” means any naturally occurring void, cavity, recess, or system of interconnecting passages beneath the surface of the earth or within a cliff or ledge including natural subsurface water and drainage systems, but not including any mine, tunnel, aqueduct, or other man-made excavation, which is large enough to permit a person<\/span> to enter. The word “cave” includes or is synonymous with cavern, sinkhole<\/span>, natural pit, grotto, and rock shelter.\n\t\t“Cave life<\/span>” means any rare or endangered animal or other life form which normally occurs in, uses, visits, or inhabits any cave or subterranean water system.\n\t\t“Commercial cave<\/span>” means any cave utilized by the owner<\/span> for the purposes of exhibition to the general public as a profit or nonprofit enterprise, wherein a fee is collected for entry.\n\t\t“Gate<\/span>” means any structure or device located to limit or prohibit access or entry to any cave.\n\t\t“Material<\/span>” means all or any part of any archaeological, paleontological, biological, or historical item including, but not limited to, any petroglyph, pictograph, basketry, human remains, tool, beads, pottery, projectile point, remains of historical mining activity or any other occupation found in any cave.\n\t\t“Owner<\/span>” means a person<\/span> who owns title to land where a cave is located, including a person<\/span> who owns title to a leasehold estate in such land, and including the Commonwealth and any of its agencies, departments<\/span>, boards<\/span>, bureaus, commissions, or authorities, as well as counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions of the Commonwealth.\n\t\t“Person<\/span>” means any individual, partnership, firm, association, trust, or corporation or other legal entity.\n\t\t“Sinkhole<\/span>” means a closed topographic depression or basin, generally draining underground, including, but not restricted to, a doline, uvala, blind valley, or sink.\n\t\t“Speleogen<\/span>” means an erosional feature of the cave boundary and includes or is synonymous with anastomoses, scallops, rills, flutes, spongework, and pendants.\n\t\t“Speleothem<\/span>” means a natural mineral formation or deposit occurring in a cave. This includes or is synonymous with stalagmite, stalactite, helectite, shield, anthodite, gypsum flower and needle, angel’s hair, soda straw, drapery, bacon, cave pearl, popcorn (coral), rimstone dam, column, palette, flowstone, et cetera. Speleothems<\/span> are commonly composed of calcite, epsomite, gypsum, aragonite, celestite, and other similar minerals.<\/p><\/section>","plain_text":" CODE OF VIRGINIA\n\nDEFINITIONS (\u00a7 10.1-1000)\n\nAs used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t“Board” means the Cave Board.\n\t\t“Cave” means any naturally occurring void, cavity, recess, or\nsystem of interconnecting passages beneath the surface of the earth or within a\ncliff or ledge including natural subsurface water and drainage systems, but not\nincluding any mine, tunnel, aqueduct, or other man-made excavation, which is\nlarge enough to permit a person to enter. The word “cave” includes\nor is synonymous with cavern, sinkhole, natural pit, grotto, and rock shelter.\n\t\t“Cave life” means any rare or endangered animal or other life form\nwhich normally occurs in, uses, visits, or inhabits any cave or subterranean\nwater system.\n\t\t“Commercial cave” means any cave utilized by the owner for the\npurposes of exhibition to the general public as a profit or nonprofit\nenterprise, wherein a fee is collected for entry.\n\t\t“Gate” means any structure or device located to limit or prohibit\naccess or entry to any cave.\n\t\t“Material” means all or any part of any archaeological,\npaleontological, biological, or historical item including, but not limited to,\nany petroglyph, pictograph, basketry, human remains, tool, beads, pottery,\nprojectile point, remains of historical mining activity or any other occupation\nfound in any cave.\n\t\t“Owner” means a person who owns title to land where a cave is\nlocated, including a person who owns title to a leasehold estate in such land,\nand including the Commonwealth and any of its agencies, departments, boards,\nbureaus, commissions, or authorities, as well as counties, municipalities, and\nother political subdivisions of the Commonwealth.\n\t\t“Person” means any individual, partnership, firm, association,\ntrust, or corporation or other legal entity.\n\t\t“Sinkhole” means a closed topographic depression or basin,\ngenerally draining underground, including, but not restricted to, a doline,\nuvala, blind valley, or sink.\n\t\t“Speleogen” means an erosional feature of the cave boundary and\nincludes or is synonymous with anastomoses, scallops, rills, flutes, spongework,\nand pendants.\n\t\t“Speleothem” means a natural mineral formation or deposit\noccurring in a cave. This includes or is synonymous with stalagmite, stalactite,\nhelectite, shield, anthodite, gypsum flower and needle, angel’s hair, soda\nstraw, drapery, bacon, cave pearl, popcorn (coral), rimstone dam, column,\npalette, flowstone, et cetera. Speleothems are commonly composed of calcite,\nepsomite, gypsum, aragonite, celestite, and other similar minerals.\n\nHISTORY: 1979, c. 252, \u00a7 10-150.12; 1988, c. 891.","edition":{"id":1,"name":"2025","slug":"2025","date_created":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","date_modified":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","current":1,"order_by":1,"last_import":null}}