University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER 36.

Weights and Measures.[416]

§ 36-1. Appointment of city sealer; compensation.

§ 36-2. Powers and duties of sealer generally.

§ 36-3. Sealer's records and reports.

§ 36-4. Procuring and keeping set of weights and measures.

§ 36-5. Sealing or marking weights and measures.

§ 36-6. Condemnation and destruction of incorrect weights and measures;
condemnation for repairs; rejected weights and measures.

§ 36-7. Police powers of seal or generally; seizure for use as evidence
of certain weights, measures, etc.

§ 36-8. Hindering or obstructing city sealer.

§ 36-9. Miscellaneous offenses in regard to weights and measures.

§ 36-10. Sale or delivery of solid fuel—Registration of dealers.

§ 36-11. Same—Delivery tickets.

§ 36-12. Same—Weights taken and attested by city sealer.

Sec. 36-1. Appointment of city sealer; compensation.[417]

The city council may appoint a city sealer of weights and
measures, who shall hold office at the will of the city council
and shall receive such salary as the city council may prescribe.
(Code 1959, § 36-1.)

Sec. 36-2. Powers and duties of sealer generally.[418]

When not otherwise provided by law, the city sealer shall
have the power and it shall be his duty within the city to inspect,
test, try and ascertain if they are correct. All weights,
measures and weighing or measuring devices kept, offered or
exposed for sale, sold, used or employed within the city by
any proprietor, agent, lessee or employee in proving the size,
quantity, area or measurement of quantities, things, produce
of articles for distribution or consumption purchased or offered

or submitted by such person for sale, hire or award.
He shall have the power to and shall from time to time weigh
or measure and inspect packages or amounts of commodities
of whatsoever kind kept for the purpose of sale, offered or
exposed for sale, sold or in the process of delivery, in order
to determine whether the same contain the amounts represented
and whether they be kept, offered or exposed for sale
or sold in a manner in accordance with law. He shall at least
twice each year and as much oftener as he may deem necessary
see that all weights, measures and weighing or measuring
devices used in the city are correct. He may, for the purpose
above-mentioned, and in the general performance of his
official duties, enter and go into or upon, and without formal
warrant, any stand, place, building or premises, or stop any
vendor, peddler, junk dealer, coal wagon, ice wagon, delivery
wagon or any person whomsoever, and require him, if necessary,
to proceed to some place which the sealer may specify,
for the purpose of making the proper tests. Whenever the
city sealer finds a violation of the ordinances or statutes relating
to weights and measures, he shall cause the violator to
be prosecuted.

The city sealer shall have such other powers and perform
such other duties as are provided by law or as may be required
of him by the city council or the city manager. (Code 1959,
§ 36-2.)

Sec. 36-3. Sealer's records and reports.

The city sealer shall keep a complete record of all of his official
acts, and shall make an annual report to the city council,
and an annual report duly sworn to, on the first day of October,
to the state commissioner of agriculture and immigration, on
blanks furnished by the latter, and, also, any special reports
that the latter may request. (Code 1959, § 6-3.)

Sec. 36-4. Procuring and keeping set of weights and measures.[419]

The city council shall procure, at the expense of the city,
and keep at all times, such standards of weight and measure
and such additional equipment, to be used for the enforcement

of the provisions of this chapter and of the laws of the state,
as may be prescribed by the state commissioner of agriculture
and immigration. When such standards of weight and measure
shall have been examined and approved by the state commissioner
of agriculture and immigration they shall be the official
standards for the city. It shall be the duty of the city
sealer to make, or to arrange to have made, at least as frequently
as once a year, comparisons between his field standards
and appropriate standards of a higher order belonging
to the city or to the state, in order to maintain such field
standards in accurate condition.

Sec. 36-5. Sealing or marking weights and measures.[420]

The city sealer shall approve for use and seal or mark such
weights and measures as he finds upon inspection and test to
be "correct", as such term is defined in section 3-708.8 of the
Code of Virginia, and shall reject and mark or tag as "condemned
for repairs" such weights and measures as he finds
upon inspection or test to be "incorrect", as defined in section
3-708.8 of the Code of Virginia, but which, in his best judgment,
are susceptible of satisfactory repair; provided, that
such sealing or marking shall not be required with respect
to such weights and measures as may be exempted therefrom
by a regulation of the state board of agriculture and immigration
under the authority of section 3-708.8 of the Code of
Virginia.

Sec. 36-6. Condemnation and destruction of incorrect weights
and measures; condemnation for repairs; rejected
weights and measures.[421]

(a) The city sealer shall condemn, and may seize and may
destroy, weights and measures found to be incorrect that, in
his best judgment, are not susceptible of satisfactory repair.
Weights and measures that have been "condemned for repairs"
may be confiscated and may be destroyed by the city
sealer if not corrected as required by subsection (b) of this
section, or if used or disposed contrary to the requirements of
such subsection (b).

(b) Weights and measures that have been rejected or condemned
for repair under the authority of the city sealer shall
remain subject to the control of the city sealer until such time
as suitable repair or disposition thereof has been made as
required by this subsection. The owners of such rejected
weights and measures shall cause the same to be made correct
within such time as may be authorized by the city sealer, or,
in lieu of this, may dispose of the same, but only in such a
manner as is specifically authorized by the city sealer. Weights
and measures that have been rejected shall not again be used
commercially until they have been officially re-examined and
found to be correct or until specific written permission for
such use is issued by the city sealer.

Sec. 36-7. Police powers of sealer generally; seizure for use
as evidence of certain weights, measures, etc.[422]

With respect to the enforcement of this chapter or any other
ordinances of the city or any of the laws of the state dealing
with weights and measures which he may be empowered to enforce,
the city sealer is hereby vested with police powers, and
is authorized to arrest any violator of such Code, ordinances
or laws and to seize as evidence, without formal warrant, incorrect
or unsealed weights and measures or amounts or packages
of commodities, found to be used, retained, offered or exposed
for sale or sold in violation of law. In the performance
of his official duties, the city sealer is authorized to enter and
go into or upon, without formal warrant, any structure or
premises, and to stop any person whatsoever, if necessary to
apprehend such person, and to require him to proceed, with
or without any vehicle of which he may be in charge, to some
place which the city sealer may specify.

Sec. 36-8. Hindering or obstructing city sealer.[423]

No person shall hinder or obstruct in any way the city
sealer in the performance of his official duties. (Code 1959,
§ 36-8.)

Sec. 36-9. Miscellaneous offenses in regard to weights and
measures.[424]

No person, by himself or by his servant or agent, or as the
servant or agent of another person, shall:

(a) Use or have in possession for the purpose of using for
any commercial purpose, sell, offer or expose for sale or hire
or have in possession for the purpose of selling or hiring, an
incorrect weight or measure or any device or instrument used
to or calculated to falsify any weight or measure.

(b) Use or have in possession for the purpose of current
use for any commercial purpose specified in section 3-708.10
of the Code of Virginia a weight or measure that does not
bear a seal or mark such as is specified in section 36-5 or in
section 3-708.16 of the Code of Virginia unless such weight
or measure has been exempted from testing by the provisions
of section 3-708.10 of the Code of Virginia or by a regulation
of the state board of agriculture and immigration.

(c) Dispose of any rejected or condemned weight or measure
in a manner contrary to law or regulation.

(d) Remove from any weights or measures, contrary to law
or regulation, any tag, seal or mark placed there by the appropriate
authority.

(e) Sell or offer or expose for sale less than the quantity
he represents of any commodity, thing or service.

(f) Take more than the quantity he represents of any commodity,
thing or service when, as buyer, he furnishes the
weights or measures by means of which the amount of the
commodity, thing or service is determined.

(g) Keep for the purpose of sale, advertise, or offer or
expose for sale or sell any commodity, thing or service in a
condition or manner contrary to law or regulation.

(h) Use in retail trade, except in the preparation of packages
put up in advance of sale and of medical prescriptions,
a weight or measure that is not so positioned that its indications
may be accurately read and the weighing or measuring
operation observed from some position which may be reasonably
assumed by a customer.

Sec. 36-10. Sale or delivery of solid fuel — Registration of
dealers.

Every person who shall sell or deliver or attempt to sell or
deliver solid fuel, consisting of coal, coke or any manufactured
or patented fuel not sold by liquid or metered measure,
to consumers in the city, or who shall solicit, receive or take
orders for the sale or delivery of such solid fuel to consumers
in the city, hereinafter termed a coal dealer, shall, before
doing so, register his name with the city sealer of weights
and measures. (Code 1959, § 36-10.)

Sec. 36-11. Same—Delivery tickets.[425]

Every delivery of solid fuel as aforesaid shall be accompanied
by a delivery ticket which shall show:

(1) The coal yard, storage yard or other point of origin
from which delivery is being made;

(2) A brief description of the kind and grade of solid fuel
being delivered, attested by the signature of the owner of the
point of origin or his agent;

(3) The name and address of the person claiming to be the
owner of the load of solid fuel being delivered;

(4) The name and address of the purchaser;

(5) The gross, tare and net weight of the load being delivered,
taken the same day on which delivery is being made,
on scales which have been duly tested, approved and sealed
by the sealer of weights and measures of the city and the
date and time the same was taken, and the license number
of the vehicle so weighed, attested by a weigh master appointed
by the sealer of weights and measures of the city.
(Code 1959, § 36-11.)

Sec. 36-12. Same—Weights taken and attested by city sealer.

The weights required to be stated on the delivery ticket
may also be taken and attested by the sealer of weights and
measures of the city or his deputy, and on application by any
coal dealer he shall weigh and determine the gross, tare and
net weights and attest the same as required in paragraph (5)

of section 36-11, for which service the coal dealer whose load
is so weighed by the city sealer of weights and measures or
his deputy shall pay to the city five cents per ton of solid fuel
so weighed. (Code 1959, § 36-12.)