The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
(Cite as: 24 App. V.S.A. ch. 239, § 20)
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§ 20. Imposition of fines and forfeitures
(a) Fines, penalties, and forfeitures up to and including $200.00 for each breach of an
ordinance or bylaw may be established by the trustees or by a properly warned Village
meeting.
(b) The fines, penalties, and forfeitures may be recovered in an action of tort brought
in the name of the Village, and in the action a general complaint relying on the ordinance
or the bylaw shall be sufficient.
(c) The process may issue either against the body or the property of the defendant, and
if the defendant is found guilty, and if it is found by the court that the cause of
action arose from the defendant’s willful or malicious act or neglect, it shall so
adjudge, and shall further adjudge that the defendant be confined in close jail, and
may issue execution against the defendant’s body with the certificate of the findings
endorsed thereon; and the execution with the certificate thereon shall have the same
effect as an execution issued on a judgment founded upon tort having a like certificate
endorsed thereon.
(d) A person who refuses to comply with a Village ordinance or bylaw relating to the person’s
business may be enjoined by a proper action in chancery brought in the name of the
Village, from continuing the business in violation of the ordinance or bylaw, and
in the action a bill relying on the ordinance or bylaws shall be sufficient.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the Village from having and
exercising other powers as may be proper to enforce obedience to its ordinances and
bylaws and to punish violations thereof. (Added 1943, No. 183, § 20.)