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1999 SESSION

990491722
SENATE BILL NO. 925
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the House Committee for Courts of Justice
on February 22, 1999)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Norment)
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 18.2-457 and 18.2-458 of the Code of Virginia, relating to contempt of court; penalties.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 18.2-457 and 18.2-458 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 18.2-457. Fine and imprisonment by court limited unless jury impaneled.

No court shall, without a jury, for any such contempt as is mentioned in the first class embraced in § 18.2-456, impose a fine exceeding fifty dollars $250 or imprison more than ten days; but in any such case the court may, without an indictment, information or any formal pleading, impanel a jury to ascertain the fine or imprisonment proper to be inflicted and may give judgment according to the verdict.

§ 18.2-458. Power of judge of district court to punish for contempt.

A judge of a district court shall have the same power and jurisdiction as a judge of a circuit court to punish summarily for contempt, but in no case shall the fine exceed fifty dollars $250 , or the imprisonment exceed ten days, for the same contempt.