Qualifications. Same as those of a Circuit Judge.
Terms. Shall hold four terms each year; but shall always be open as a Court of Probate.
For explanation of CHANCERY, see page 50, and for PROBATE, see page 48.
Jurisdiction. Shall exercise, within the corporate limits, exclusive jurisdiction concerning the probate and recordation of wills, the appointment, qualification, and removal of fiduciaries, and the settlement of their accounts; the docketing of judgments; the recordation of deeds and such other papers as are authorized or required by law to be recorded; exclusive jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings in chancery cognizable by law in the Circuit Courts of the Commonwealth, except such as are specially cognizable by the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond, and any duty devolved, or any power or jurisdiction conferred by law on the Circuit Courts, unless otherwise expressly provided, except as to matters of common law and criminal jurisdiction.
The RECORDATION of wills is the recording of them in the court in which they are probated. (For PROBATE OF WILLS, see page 48.) FIDUCIARIES are trustees or persons appointed to hold property in trust for others. The DOCKETING OF JUDGMENTS is making summaries or brief statements of them for the purpose of record. A docket is a small piece of paper containing the heads or principal points of any writing or statement.
A JUDGMENT is a sentence or decision pronounced by a court, or a judge of a court, on any matter tried before it. A DEED is a written paper containing the terms of a contract, or the transfer of real estate by the owner to a purchaser. DEVOLVED means transferred from one person to another.
COMMON LAW is the title given to laws which have not originated in any statute, but derive their force and authority from having been in use for many centuries. The common law of England, upon which the common law of Virginia is based, includes customs of the people of such long standing that the courts took notice of them and gave them the force of law. Common law is the UNWRITTEN law; statute law consists of the laws enacted and recorded by legislatures.
Law and Equity Court of the City of Richmond.
Judge elected by the General Assembly for a term of eight years.
Salary, $3,500.
Qualifications. Same as those of a Circuit Judge. Terms. Shall hold four terms each year, beginning the second Monday in February, May, September, and December, continuing as long as the business of the Court may require.