Virginia Law

The respective jurisdiction and powers of the Commonwealth and the United States over all lands within the Shenandoah National Park, as it is now constituted or may hereafter be extended, shall be as follows:

1. Criminal and police jurisdiction. -- The United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction, legislative, executive and judicial, with respect to the commission of crimes, and the arrest, trial and punishment therefor, and exclusive general police jurisdiction thereover.

2. Sale of alcoholic beverages. -- The United States shall have the power to regulate or prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages on such lands; provided, that, if the sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited by general law in the Commonwealth outside of such lands, no such alcoholic beverages shall be sold on the lands contained in the Park area; and provided further, that if the general laws of the Commonwealth permit the sale of alcoholic beverages, then the regulations of the United States relating to such sales on such lands shall conform as nearly as possible to the regulatory provisions in accordance with which such sales are permitted in the Commonwealth outside of such Park lands. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as reserving in the Commonwealth power to require licenses of persons engaged in the sale of intoxicating beverages on such lands, nor the power to require that any sales be made through official liquor stores.

3. Service of civil and criminal process. -- The Commonwealth shall have jurisdiction to serve civil process within the limits of the Park in any suits properly instituted in any of the courts of the Commonwealth and to serve criminal process within such limits in any suits or prosecutions for or on account of crimes committed in the Commonwealth but outside of the Park.

4. Tax on alcoholic beverages. -- The Commonwealth shall have jurisdiction and power to levy a nondiscriminatory tax on all alcoholic beverages possessed or sold on such lands.

5. Tax on motor vehicle fuels and lubricants. -- The Commonwealth shall have jurisdiction and power to tax the sales of oil and gasoline, and other motor vehicle fuels and lubricants for use in motor vehicles. This subsection shall not be construed as a consent by the United States to the taxation by the Commonwealth of such sales for the exclusive use of the United States.

6. Tax on businesses. -- The Commonwealth shall have jurisdiction and power to levy nondiscriminatory taxes on private individuals, associations and corporations, their franchises and properties, on such lands, and on their businesses conducted thereon.

7. Jurisdiction of courts. -- The courts of the Commonwealth shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the courts of the United States of all civil causes of action arising on such lands to the same extent as if the cause of action had arisen in the county or city in which the land lies outside the Park area, and the state officers shall have jurisdiction to enforce on such lands the judgments of the state courts and the collection of taxes by appropriate process.

8. Voting residence. -- Persons residing in or on any of the lands embraced in the Park shall have the right to establish a voting residence in the Commonwealth by reason thereof, and the consequent right to vote at all elections within the county or city in which the land or lands upon which they reside are located upon like terms and conditions, and to the same extent as they would be entitled to vote in such county or city if the lands on which they reside had not been deeded or conveyed to the United States.

9. Fugitives. -- All fugitives from justice taking refuge in the Park shall be subject to the same laws as refugees from justice found in the Commonwealth.

Code 1950, § 7-22; 1966, c. 102, § 7.1-19; 2005, c. 839.