§ 8.01-1.1.References to former sections, articles and chapters of Title 8 and other titles.

Virginia recodified its civil procedure statutes effective October 2, 1977, moving provisions that had lived in Title 8 into a new Title 8.01 and renumbering many of them along the way. Section 8.01-1.1 is the housekeeping rule that keeps the rest of the Code working after that kind of overhaul. When a former section, article, or chapter of old Title 8 (or another title) was transferred, in the same or modified form, to a new section, article, or chapter, and given a new number, this section directs that any reference to the old numbering elsewhere in the Code be read as a reference to the new one.

The reach of this rule extends beyond Title 8.01 itself. It covers references appearing in any other title of the Code, so a cross-reference buried in an unrelated statute that still cites the old Title 8 numbering continues to function correctly, pointing to whatever provision now contains that same subject matter.

Section 8.01-1.1 does not change the substance of any rule. It is a rule of construction that lets the many cross-references scattered throughout the Code survive a renumbering without requiring the legislature to hunt down and amend every one of them individually.