15.2-1412 - Reproductions of records and documents and legal status thereof; destruction of originals.
§ 15.2-1412. Reproductions of records and documents and legal status thereof;destruction of originals.
Any locality may provide for the photographing or microphotographing, or therecording by any other process which accurately reproduces or forms a durablemedium for reproducing the original of all or any part of the papers,records, documents or other material kept by or in the charge of anydepartment, agency or institution of such locality in accordance with suchstandards and retention schedules as may be issued in pursuance of § 42.1-82.
A reproduction thereof if substantially the same size as the original, whensatisfactorily identified, is as admissible in evidence as the originalitself in any judicial or administrative proceeding whether the original isin existence or not, and an enlargement or facsimile of such reproduction islikewise admissible in evidence if the original reproduction is in existenceand available for inspection under direction of the court. The introductionof a reproduced record, enlargement or facsimile, does not preclude admissionof the original.
Whenever photographs or microphotographs have been made and put inconveniently accessible files, and provision has been made for preserving,examining and using the same, the locality may notify the Librarian ofVirginia that it intends to destroy the records and papers so photographed ormicrophotographed, or any part thereof. If within sixty days the Librarian ofVirginia has not notified the locality that such records or papers should beretained, the locality may destroy them. A locality may also, in itsdiscretion, consult with the locality's librarian with reference to theadvisability of destroying any such records, papers, documents or othermaterial because of any historical significance or value.
With the approval of the judge of the circuit court entered of record, theclerk of the circuit court and the clerk of the district court, if directedto do so by the governing body, may microphotograph records in theirrespective offices which are not required for current use. No record somicrophotographed shall be destroyed but may be stored in a safe place. Themicrophotograph or a certified copy thereof shall have the same force andeffect as the original record.
(Code 1950, § 15-5.1; 1952, c. 289; 1958, c. 9; 1962, c. 623, § 15.1-8; 1966,c. 303; 1970, c. 225; 1979, c. 155; 1983, c. 419; 1997, c. 587; 1998, c. 427.)