In accordance with the directive contained in Joint Resolution of the General Assembly No. 21, adopted at its 1960 session, directing the Virginia Court Clerks Association to make a study concerning the preservation of certain documents filed in the Offices of the Clerks of Courts of record, the Committee appointed by the Virginia Court Clerks Association hereby submits the following study and recommendations:

SCOPE OF STUDY

House Joint Resolution No. 21, provides in substance for a study of the following:

(a) The statutes which set forth the period of time documents and other papers filed in the offices of Clerks of Courts of record establish and maintain a lien upon the property ref erred to in such documents; and the matter of whether or not legislation should be enacted to establish a point beyond which such Clerks would be permitted to destroy documents where the lien created thereunder no longer exists.

(b) In the case of other papers, the extent to which the public interest is protected by the requirements of continued preservation and whether legislation should be enacted to establish a point beyond which such Clerks would be permitted to destroy such documents when the public interest no longer requires the preservation of such records.

(c) This study is further limited in that it shall not involve documents relating to real estate, wills, probate, and other matters involving the personal rights or privileges of individuals, nor any papers or documents constituting a record of any proceedings in any Court served by such Clerk's Offices, provided, however, that the Virginia Court Clerks Association may include in such study and recommendations, the question of destruction, after an appropriate period, of criminal warrants involving misdemeanors and proceedings thereon.