§ 8.01-387.Notice by courts and officers of signatures of judges and Governor.

Section 8.01-387 handles a small but useful piece of housekeeping. Every court and every officer in Virginia has to take notice of the signature of any judge, or of the Governor, appearing on a judicial or official document. That means nobody has to call a witness or produce independent proof just to establish that a judge’s or the Governor’s signature on a document is genuine.

The provision exists because judicial and official documents circulate constantly — orders, commissions, warrants, certificates — and forcing a party to authenticate a familiar official’s signature every time it turns up would slow the system down for no real benefit. Courts and officers are expected to recognize these signatures the way anyone recognizes a familiar hand.

It is a narrow rule, limited to judges and the Governor rather than officials generally, but it fits neatly alongside the broader judicial notice framework in this chapter: some facts are so routinely established in the ordinary course of government business that requiring formal proof of them each time would be wasted effort.