who delivers a copy of said summons to the person summoned, if the summons be not served by an officer, but if served by a State, county or municipal officer his return shall be sufficient without oath. The summons shall be considered a mandate of the court, and wilful failure to obey its requirements shall subject any person guilty thereof to liability for punishment as for a contempt.

(1922, p. 819. In force June 18, 1922.)

Sec. 1910. Return of summons; trial of case; disposition of child. At the time set for the hearing, as hereinbefore provided, the court shall proceed to hear and determine the case. The judge of said court, subject to the rights of counsel, may conduct the examination of witnesses, and may take testimony and inquire into the habits, surroundings, conditions, tendencies and guardianships of said child so as to enable the court to determine if such child is delinquent, dependent or neglected, and if so, what order or judgment will best conserve the welfare of said child and carry out the objects of this chapter. If said child is found by the court to be dependent, delinquent or neglected, the court shall so adjudicate, and thereafter, unless said finding and judgment is annulled or repealed as herein provided for, said child shall during his or her minority, or so much thereof as the court shall consider to be for the best interest of said child, for the purposes of this chapter, be considered wa ard of the State and be subject to the guardianship of the court as herein provided for.

After such hearing and adjudication the court may place the child under the care and control of a probation officer, and may allow such child to remain in its home, subject to the visitation of a probation officer, to be returned to the court by the parent or probation officer when ordered to do so by the judge for further proceedings whenever such action may appear to said court or judge necessary; or the court may order the child to be placed in a suitable family home, willing to receive it, subject to the friendly visitation and supervision of a probation officer or of an agent of the State board of public welfare, and subject to the further order of the court; or it may authorize the child to be boarded out in some suitable family home, school or institution (approved by the State board of public welfare); or the court may commit such child to the State board of public welfare or to any society, association or institution incorporated under the laws of Virginia approved by said State board of public welfare, or the court may make such other order or judgment as the court may deem for the best interest of the child and for the proper protection of the public interests; provided, that all delinquent children intended to be placed in a State institution shall be committed to the State board of public welfare-it being the purpose of this chapter to make said board the sole agency for the guardianship of delinquent children committed to the State. All commitments

under this chapter shall be for an indeterminate period having regard to the welfare of the child and interests of the parents but no child committed hereunder shall be held or detained after such child shall have attained the age of twenty-one years; and the said State board of public welfare and aid societies, associations or institutions may place under contract children committed under this chapter in suitable family homes, institutions or industrial schools for the care of children without further process of law for a term of years not exceeding the period of minority of such child, and whenever such child shall be so placed by such society, association or institution a report of such action shall be made to the State board of public welfare in such form as may be required by it. Any order made by the court or any commitment to any such private society, association or institution shall be subject to modification or revocation from time to time, as the court may deem to be for the welfare of such child; the duty being constant upon the court to give all children subject to its jurisdiction such oversight and control as may conduce to the welfare of the child and the best interests of the State. In committing any child to any custodial agency, or placing it in any guardianship other than that of its natural guardian, the court shall, as far as practicable, select some individual holding to the same religious belief as the parent of such child; or some institution or association governed by persons of the same religious faith as that of the parents of the child, unless the commitment be to a State institution or agency.

Unless the offense is aggravated or the child is of an extremely vicious or unruly disposition, no court, judge or justice shall sentence or commit a child under the age of eighteen years to a jail, workhouse, or police station, or send such a child on to the grand jury, nor sentence such child to the penitentiary or to the State convict road force.

(1922, p. 819. In force June 18, 1922.)

Sec. 1911. Arresting children; transfer of cases from justices and courts not having jurisdiction of their trial.

of

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as forbidding the arrest any child as is now or may hereafter be provided by law.

But no warrant of arrest shall be issued for any child under twelve years of age, except with the written permission of a judge of a court of record, or the justice of the juvenile and domestic relations court; nor shall any such child be transported, conveyed or ridden in a police patrol wagon, or other vehicle, usually used for the transportation or conveyance of adult prisoners. And no warrant of arrest shall be issued for any child between the ages of twelve and eighteen years, except when the use of such process is imperative. Whenever any child under eighteen years of age, and who otherwise comes under the provisions of this chapter, is brought before any other justice or court in such county or city, such justice or court shall forthwith, by proper order, transfer the case to the said juvenile and domestic relations

court or said circuit, corporation or hustings court; and shall order and direct that said child be taken to the place provided in such county or city for detention of children coming within the provisions of this chapter. Said justice or court may, however, admit such child so transferred to bail, or release such child into the custody of some suitable person, to appear before said juvenile and domestic relations court or circuit, corporation or hustings court at a time designated in said undertaking of bail or in said order of transfer. All warrants and other processes or papers in the hands of such justice or court relating to the case so transferred shall be by him or by the clerk of said court forthwith transmitted to the clerk of said juvenile and domestic relations or circuit, corporation or hustings court and shall become a part of its records. Said juvenile and domestic relations, or circuit, corporation or hustings court shall thereupon have jurisdiction of said cause, and shall proceed to hear and determine the same in like manner as if the proceedings had been instituted in said court by petition as herein provided for.

(1922, p. 819. In force June 18, 1922.)

See chapter 349 of Acts 1918, herein.

Sec. 1912. Regulations as to the custody of dependent, delinquent or neglected children.

Whenever any child is found to be dependent, neglected or delinquent within the meaning of this chapter, and the court, in its discretion, shall take the custody of said child from its parents, or either of them, or from the custody of any person or persons liable for its support and shall place it in the custody of the other parent, or in the custody of any other person, or in the place of detention or parental school provided by such county or city, or in any hospital or other institution or with any custodial agency, public or private, the court may, after service of an order to show cause or the issuance and execution of a warrant upon the person from whose custody the child has been taken, proceed to inquire whether or not said child should be supported by said person, and may order and adjudge that the expenses of caring for said child, or part thereof, shall be paid by such person or persons, and may direct when, how and where money for said expenses shall be paid; and in the event that said person so adjudged liable to pay such expenses or support, shall wilfully, and without just excuse, fail or refuse to pay same in accordance with the court's said order, said person so failing to pay same shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the statute relating to desertion and non-support. An appeal may be taken from said order adjudging said person liable to pay said expenses in like manner as in misdemeanor cases. If the child have an estate in the hands of a guardian or trustee, the guardian or trustee may be required to pay for its education and maintenance in connection therewith so long as there may be funds for that purpose. (1922, p. 819. In force June 18, 1922.)

Sec. 1913. Physical and mental examinations.

The court, in its discretion, either before or after a hearing, may cause any child within its jurisdictions to be given a physical and mental examination by a competent physician or physicians or an approved mental examiner, to be designated by the court having jurisdiction of such child, and the physician or mental examiner so designated shall certify to the court the condition in which he finds the child. If it shall appear to the court that any child within its jurisdiction is mentally defective, he may cause the child to be examined by two licensed physicians or approved mental examiners, and on the written statement of such physicians or examiners that it is their opinion that the child is mentally defective, the court may commit such child to an institution authorized by law to receive and care for mentally defective children. The parent or parents, guardian and custodian of such child shall be given due notice of any proceedings hereunder as provided for in section nineteen hundred and eight. When the health or physical condition of the child requires it, the court may cause the child to be treated by a competent physician or placed in a public hospital or other institution for treatment or special care, or in a private hospital or institution which will receive it for like

purposes.

(1922, p. 819. In force June 18, 1922.)

Sec. 1914. Detention homes or other places of detention.

Provision shall be made for the temporary detention of children coming within the provisions of this chapter in a detention home or parental school to be conducted as an agency of the city or county for that purpose, or the judge of such court may, with the approval of the governing body of the city or board of supervisors of the county, arrange for the boarding of such children temporarily in a private home or homes in the custody of some fit person or persons subject to the supervision of the court, or the judge may arrange with any incorporated institution, society, or association, approved by the State board of public welfare, or with any other court, which maintains a suitable place of detention for children for the use thereof as a temporary detention home, but the court or justice shall not send any child to jail or station house while awaiting trial or disposition unless such child is extremely vicious or unruly or is charged with delinquency of an aggravated nature.

In the event that a detention home or parental school is established by the court it shall be subject to visitation and inspection by the State board of public welfare, and shall be furnished and carried on so far as possible as a family home under the management of a superintendent or matron. The court shall appoint such superintendent or matron from a list of eligibles submitted by the State board of public welfare, and it may appoint such other employees for such home as may be necessary. The necessary expenses incurred in maintaining such detention home shall be a charge upon the county

or city, as the case may be, and the county board of supervisors or the city council or other governing body shall make provision therefor.

In case the court shall arrange for the boarding of children temporarily detained in private homes or with any incorporated institution, society, or association, or in detention homes conducted by another city or county, a reasonable sum for the board of such children while so detained shall be, upon the order of the court, paid by the county or city, as the case may be. No child shall be detained or confined in a city or county almshouse or poor house for a period longer than thirty days without the consent of the State board of public welfare.

The same fees or allowance shall be paid by the State for children boarded out or held in a detention home as are now paid for prisoners confined in jail.

(1922, p. 819. In force June 18, 1922.)

After the expiration of the day on which an order of conviction and commitment as a delinquent child was entered, the justice no longer had jurisdiction of the case for any purpose, except that of the entry of an allowance of an appeal at any time within ten days from the date of the last named order, and a subsequent order purporting to reopen the case and to discharge the child from custody was ultra vires and void. Ex Parte Hazel Smith, 124 Va. 791, 98 S. E. 10.

Sec. 1915. Probation officers; appointment, duties and powers. The court may appoint one or more suitable persons as probation officers, in accordance with the terms of chapter three hundred and forty-nine of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighteen, or any amendment thereof, whose duty it shall be to make such investigation of cases involving children under the age of eighteen years as the court may direct, either before or after a hearing to be present in court in order to represent the interests of the child when the case is heard, to furnish the court such information and assistance as it may require, and to take charge of any such child before and after the hearing as may be directed by the court, and to perform such other duties as the court may confer upon him. Every probation officer appointed under said chapter is hereby invested with all the powers and authority of a police officer and of a constable. The compensation of such probation officers shall be fixed by the board of supervisors of the county or the council or other governing body of the city in which they serve, shall be paid out of the county or city treasury. (1922, p. 819. In force June 18, 1922.)

and

Sec. 1916. Police officers and constables as probation officers. Any court mentioned in section nineteen hundred and five may, upon the recommendation of the State board of public welfare, appoint and deputize any member or members of the police force of a city or of an incorporated town, not exceeding three in number, and any constable or other suitable person of the magisterial districts of a county, to act and serve as probation officer or officers so long