                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

RECORDATION OF MARKETING CONTRACTS (§ 13.1-330)

a. Whenever any body of agricultural producers, cooperative corporation composed
of agricultural producers or cooperative marketing association incorporated
under the laws of this Commonwealth, or under the laws of any other state of the
United States and licensed to do business in this Commonwealth, which is engaged
in marketing agricultural products, other than leguminous food products, for its
members shall prepare and deliver to the clerk of any court in this Commonwealth
in the office of whom deeds are admitted to record, a book to be called
&#8220;the contract book of&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..&#8221; (namely the body,
corporation or association), such book shall thereupon become a public record
book of such clerk&#8217;s office, and it shall be the duty of such clerk to
record therein the matters and things authorized by the succeeding section.

b. At any time after any such book shall have been so delivered to the clerk as
provided herein, the body, corporation or association which has delivered the
same may request the clerk to whom such book has been delivered to record
therein any marketing contracts or agreements which have been entered into by
such body, corporation or association and any members thereof; provided,
however, that if any such contracts or agreements be in the same words and
figures as any other contracts or agreements with any other members of the body,
corporation or association, and be separately signed by such members of the
body, corporation or association, such body, corporation or association may have
one of such contracts or agreements recorded in extenso in such book, and may
furnish the clerk with a list of the names of persons appearing on such
contracts as signers thereof, with the dates of the signatures respectively,
whereupon the clerk shall record such names as signers of such contracts or
agreements, with the dates of their signatures, respectively, so furnished. Such
recordation of the list of signers so furnished shall be equivalent to the
recordation in extenso of the contract or agreement of each signer thereon. Such
copy of such contract or agreement and such list of names of persons appearing
on such contracts as signers thereof shall be sworn to by some officer of the
body, corporation or association cognizant of the facts before some officer
authorized to take acknowledgments to deeds. But in no case shall any such
contract or agreement be deemed to be recorded as to any signer thereof until
his name shall be indexed in such book by the clerk, which indexing the clerk is
hereby required to do.

c. When the provisions of the two preceding subsections shall have been complied
with, and any such recordation as is therein mentioned is made in the county in
which is situated the land on which the produce covered by the particular
marketing contract or agreement concerned is grown or produced, such recordation
shall operate as constructive notice of the existence of such contract or
agreement, and of the terms thereof, and all persons contracting or dealing with
any such member in relation to any such produce covered by such contract or
agreement shall be bound thereby; and all rights or liens acquired by any such
person in such produce subsequent to the date of such recordation shall be
subject in all respects to the rights of the body, corporation or association
under such contract or agreement; provided, however, that nothing herein
contained shall affect the statutory lien of a landlord for advances made to a
tenant, or for rent; and provided, also, that nothing herein contained shall
affect a bona fide purchaser of any agricultural product, upon the floor of any
public warehouse, when such purchaser is without actual notice of the rights of
the body, corporation or association under such contract or agreement nor a
warehouseman selling such products at public auction on his warehouse floor,
without actual notice of such contract or agreement.

d. For making the recordations authorized by this section, the clerk shall be
entitled to the following fees, to be paid by the body, corporation or
association for which the service is performed: for recording a contract or
agreement in extenso, the same fees as for recording a deed; for recording a
sworn list of names when furnished as above provided, two cents for each person.
No tax shall be charged on the recordations authorized hereby.

HISTORY: Code 1950, §§ 13-280 to 13-283; 1956, c. 428.