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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>370397</law_id><section_number>56-430</section_number><catch_line>Construction of &#xA7; 56-429; burden of proof</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2026/" slug="2026" current="TRUE" last_updated="2026-08-02">2026</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="121" identifier="56">Public Service Companies</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="27" identifier="13">Railroad Corporations</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="8" identifier="8">Rights-Of-Way; Fires; Fences; Cattle Guards, Etc</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>Section <a class="law" title="Company to erect fences along roadbed; cattle guards, etc" href="/56-429/">56-429</a>, so far as it relates to fencing, shall not apply to any part of a <span class="dictionary">railroad</span> located within the corporate limits of a city or town, or between the terminals of switches, or spur tracks, not exceeding 350 yards from the depot, either way, nor to any part of a <span class="dictionary">railroad</span> at a place where there is a cut or embankment with sides sufficiently steep to prevent the passage of stock at such place; nor in an action by an adjacent owner to recover for stock killed or injured on the track shall it apply to a <span class="dictionary">company</span> which has compensated the owner for making and keeping in repair the necessary fencing, but the burden of proving the <span class="dictionary">fact</span> of such compensation shall be on the <span class="dictionary">company</span>, and no report of any commissioners shall be received as proof thereof, unless it shall plainly appear on the face of the report, or from other <span class="dictionary">evidence</span> in connection therewith, that an estimate was made by such commissioners for the fencing, and the expense for the same entered into, and constituted a part of the <span class="dictionary">damages</span> reported and actually paid.</p></section></text><history>Code 1919, &#xA7; 3947.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
