15.2-1638 - County or city governing body to provide courthouse, clerk's office, jail and suitable facilities for attorney for the Commonwealth; acquisition of land.

§ 15.2-1638. County or city governing body to provide courthouse, clerk'soffice, jail and suitable facilities for attorney for the Commonwealth;acquisition of land.

The governing body of every county and city shall provide courthouses withsuitable space and facilities to accommodate the various courts and officialsthereof serving the county or city; within or outside such courthouses, aclerk's office, the record room of which shall be fireproof; a jail; and,upon request therefor, suitable space and facilities for the attorney for theCommonwealth to discharge the duties of his office. The costs thereof and ofthe land on which they may be, and of keeping the same in good order, shallbe chargeable to the county or city. The fee simple of the lands and of thebuildings and improvements thereon utilized for such courthouses shall be inthe county or city, and the governing body of the county or city may purchaseso much of such property, as, with what it has, may be necessary for thepurposes enumerated or for any other proper purpose of the county or city.However, any portion of the property owned by a county and located within acity or town and not actually occupied by the courthouse, clerk's office, orjail, may be sold or exchanged and conveyed to such city or town to be usedfor street or other public purposes. Any such sale or exchange by thegoverning body of a county shall be made in accordance with the provisions of§ 15.2-1800.

The amendments contained in Chapter 90 of the 1986 Acts of Assembly shall notapply to the City of Virginia Beach.

(Code 1950, §§ 15-686, 15-688; 1954, cc. 49, 264; 1956, c. 329; 1960, c. 145;1962, cc. 283, 489, 623, § 15.1-257; 1964, c. 241; 1986, c. 90; 1997, c. 587;2007, c. 813.)