<?xml version="1.0"?>
<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>54980</law_id><section_number>15.2-1638</section_number><catch_line>County or city governing body to provide courthouse, clerk&amp;#8217;s office, jail and suitable facilities for attorney for the Commonwealth; acquisition of land</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>15.2-1641</reference><reference>15.2-734</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="15.2">Counties, Cities and Towns</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="II">Powers of Local Government</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="16">Local Constitutional Officers, Courthouses and Supplies</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="8">Courthouses</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>The <span class="dictionary">governing body</span> of every <span class="dictionary">county</span> and <span class="dictionary">city</span> shall provide courthouses with suitable space and facilities to accommodate the various <span class="dictionary">courts</span> and officials thereof serving the <span class="dictionary">county</span> or <span class="dictionary">city</span>; within or outside such courthouses, a clerk&#x2019;s office, the record room of which shall be fireproof; a jail; and, upon request therefor, suitable space and facilities for the attorney for the Commonwealth to discharge the duties of his office. The costs thereof and of the land on which they may be, and of keeping the same in good <span class="dictionary">order</span>, shall be chargeable to the <span class="dictionary">county</span> or <span class="dictionary">city</span>. The fee simple of the lands and of the buildings and improvements thereon utilized for such courthouses shall be in the <span class="dictionary">county</span> or <span class="dictionary">city</span>, or jointly in a <span class="dictionary">county</span> and a <span class="dictionary">city</span>, and the <span class="dictionary">governing body</span> of the <span class="dictionary">county</span> or <span class="dictionary">city</span> may purchase so much of such property, as, with what it has, may be necessary for the purposes enumerated or for any other proper purpose of the <span class="dictionary">county</span> or <span class="dictionary">city</span>. However, any portion of the property owned by a <span class="dictionary">county</span> and located within a <span class="dictionary">city</span> or <span class="dictionary">town</span> and not actually occupied by the courthouse, clerk&#x2019;s office, or jail may be sold or exchanged and conveyed to such <span class="dictionary">city</span> or <span class="dictionary">town</span> to be used for street or other public purposes. Any such sale or exchange by the <span class="dictionary">governing body</span> of a <span class="dictionary">county</span> shall be made in accordance with the provisions of &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Purchase, sale, use, etc., of real property" href="/15.2-1800/">15.2-1800</a>.
		The amendments contained in Chapter 90 of the 1986 Acts of Assembly shall not apply to the <span class="dictionary">City</span> of Virginia Beach.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7;&#xA7; 15-686, 15-688; 1954, cc. 49, 264; 1956, c. 329; 1960, c. 145; 1962, cc. 283, 489, 623, &#xA7; 15.1-257; 1964, c. 241; 1986, c. 90; 1997, c. 587; 2007, c. 813; 2019, c. 240.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
