                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

COPIES OF UNSIGNED GRANTS ADMISSIBLE IN EVIDENCE; COMMONWEALTH&#8217;S RIGHT
RELINQUISHED WHEN CERTAIN TAXES PAID; CORRECTION OF RECORD (§ 41.1-7)

Where the records in the Land Office disclose the fact that the land warrants
used as the foundation for a grant of any of the public lands of the
Commonwealth, subject to grant, were fully paid for and that the right to such
grant was finally and fully completed in the manner prescribed by law and a
grant therefor made out and spread upon the record book in the Land Office, in
due form of law and regular in every respect only that the name of the then
Governor of Virginia was not recorded at the foot thereof on the record book, it
shall be the duty of the Librarian of Virginia, upon the request of any person
interested, to furnish a copy of such grant as it appears of record in the Land
Office, together with a certificate to the effect that the land warrants upon
which such grant was founded, were fully paid for; that the right to such grant
had been finally and fully completed in the manner prescribed by law, and that
the grant was regular in every respect except only that the signature of the
Governor did not appear at the foot thereof on the record. Such copy and
certificate shall be received in evidence in any legal proceeding in which the
title to the land described in such grant, or any part thereof, is brought in
controversy, and shall be prima facie evidence of title to such land; and when
the land embraced in such grant, or any part thereof, shall have been regularly
on the proper land books and the taxes and levies regularly assessed thereon and
paid by the claimants thereof, claiming under such grant, for a continuous
period of ten years, any title which may rest in the Commonwealth, to so much of
the land as has been so on the land books and upon which the taxes and levies
shall have been so paid, shall be relinquished to the person so claiming the
same, and any such claimant of such land, on which the taxes and levies shall
have been so paid, may file a petition in the circuit court of the county or
city in which such land lies, after ten days&#8217; notice in writing to the
attorney for the Commonwealth for such county or city who shall appear and
defend the same on behalf of the Commonwealth and the county or city; and upon
satisfactory proof of the fact that such land has so been on the land books of
the county or city and all the taxes and levies regularly paid thereon for the
period of time hereinbefore specified, and the production before the court of
the copy of such grant and the certificate of the Librarian of Virginia,
hereinbefore provided for, the court shall make an order which shall recite and
set forth all of such facts so proved and shown, which order, when so made and
entered of record on the proper order book of the court, shall operate to
effectually relinquish to the person so claiming such land through and under
such grant, whatever right and title may rest in the Commonwealth, thereto; and
a copy of such order shall be conclusive evidence of the better right of the
claimant under such grant, in any caveat proceeding, or in any other controversy
between such claimant and any other person claiming under a location of such
land or any part thereof, made after the date of such order.
		But nothing contained in this section shall in any manner affect any right
adverse to any person claiming under such grant, which vested prior to June 22,
1926, nor divest the right or title, if any, of any junior grantee of any part
of the land embraced within the exterior bounds of such grant, claiming under a
junior grant which was regularly issued prior to June 22, 1926, or anyone
holding or claiming through or under such junior grantee, but in any controversy
between such adverse claimants or junior grantees, or persons claiming or
holding through or under them, and any person holding or claiming through or
under such grant as is first herein mentioned, the contesting parties shall be
left to the strength of their respective rights and titles according to the
nature of the case, independent of this section, and just as if it had not been
enacted.
		If it shall appear from the original of any such grant as is first
hereinbefore referred to, that such original was actually signed by the
Governor, the Librarian of Virginia shall, upon the presentation to him in the
Land Office, of such original grant so signed, correct the record thereof so as
to conform to such original grant, and affix thereto the date of such correction
and a certificate of the fact that such original, duly signed by the Governor,
had been presented to him.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 41-9; 1970, c. 291; 1998, c. 427.