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Any sheriff or other officer may transmit by mail to the proper officer, with his return thereon, any order, warrant or process which came to his hands from beyond his locality and proof that any order, warrant or process was put into the post office, duly addressed to any officer, and that the postage thereon was paid, shall be prima facie evidence of the receipt thereof by the officer to whom the same is addressed, by due course of mail, and this prima facie evidence may be furnished by the receipt taken, at the time the order, warrant or process is put into the post office, from the postmaster, or his deputy, and the certificate of a magistrate of the acknowledgment of the receipt before him. However, an officer may protect himself from a forfeiture or fine upon such proof, by making oath that he did not himself receive the order, warrant or process, so addressed to him, and that he verily believes it was not received by any of his deputies. Code 1950, § 15-518; 1962, c. 623, § 15.1-83; 1997, c. 587.
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