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West Virginia · Through as of 2026-08-03; contains at least the enactments of the 2026 Regular Session · Newer source version available

W. Va. Code § 56-3-18: When officer may summon assistance; failure to assist.

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Where this section sits in the code
  1. CHAPTER 56. PLEADING AND PRACTICE.
  2. ARTICLE 3. WRITS, PROCESS AND ORDER OF PUBLICATION.

Such officer may, in case resistance be made or apprehended to the execution of such process or order, summon to his assistance, either orally or by writing, so many of the male inhabitants of his county of the age of eighteen years or more, or require the commandant of any company, regiment or separate battalion of militia or volunteers to call out such portion, or the whole thereof, to assist him as shall be deemed sufficient for the occasion; and he and those assisting him may use such force as shall be necessary or proper to overcome any resistance made to the execution of such process or order, and to seize, arrest and confine the resisters, their aiders and abettors, to be dealt with according to law. If any male inhabitant of the county of the age of eighteen years or more fail to obey such summons, or if any commandant fail to comply with such requisition, the officer shall report the fact to the court from which such process or order issued, which court may, in a summary way, after notice to the person so reported, adjudge him to be fined or imprisoned, or both, as for contempt. Or if the process or order was not issued by a court, the person so failing to obey such summons or requisition shall be punished as for a misdemeanor and, to that end the officer shall report him to the prosecuting attorney for the county.

Collected 2026-09-06T00:31:03Z. Source file · JSON

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