The inhabitants of the territory comprised within the limits of the City of Franklin, as the same now are or may hereafter be established by law, shall continue to be a body politic and corporate under the name of the City of Franklin, and as such shall have perpetual succession, may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with and may have a corporate seal which it may alter, renew or amend at its pleasure.
[Amended by Acts 1995, ch. 591, § 1]
The boundaries of the city shall be the boundaries of the Town of Franklin, its predecessor, as described in Chapter 123 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1875-1876, approved March 15, 1876, as modified and enlarged by the decree of the Circuit Court of Southampton County entered on May 25, 1906, in the annexation proceedings styled Town of Franklin v. County of Southampton, Virginia, which decree is recorded in the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of Southampton County, Virginia, in Common Law Order Book 8 at pages 359, et seq., and as further modified and enlarged by the decree of the Circuit Court of Southampton County entered on March 5, 1925, in the annexation proceedings styled Town of Franklin v. County of Southampton which decree is recorded in the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of Southampton County, Virginia, in Common Law Order Book 12 at pages 129, et seq., and as further modified and contracted by the decree of the Circuit Court of Southampton County entered on May 27, 1932, in the proceedings styled Town of Franklin v. County of Southampton, which decree is recorded in the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of Southampton County, Virginia, in Common Law Order Book 13 at pages 443, et seq., and as further modified and enlarged by the decree of the Circuit Court of Southampton County entered on May 26, 1949, in the annexation proceedings styled Town of Franklin v. County of Southampton, which decree is recorded in the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of Southampton County, Virginia, in Common Law Order Book 16 at pages 194, et seq., and as further modified and enlarged by the decree of the Circuit Court of Southampton County entered on November 13, 1959, in the annexation proceedings styled Town of Franklin v. County of Southampton, which decree is recorded in the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of Southampton County, Virginia, in Common Law Order Book 19 at pages 264, et seq., and as further modified and enlarged by the decree of the Circuit Court of Southampton County, entered on December 20, 1985, in the Voluntary Settlement Proceeding styled in the matter of the petition by the City of Franklin, Virginia, and the County of Southampton, Virginia, for an Order affirming and validating a voluntary settlement and establishing the rights of the local governments, pursuant to § 15.2-3400 of the Code of Virginia which decree is recorded in the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of Southampton County in Chancery Order Book 27 at page 14 et seq.
The municipal government provided by this Charter shall be known as the "city manager plan," and shall be the same as adopted by decree of the Circuit Court of Southampton County, Virginia, on March 28, 1922, and set forth in Common Law Order Book 11, page 302, in the office of the clerk of said court, and as subsequently amended by chapter 6 of the Acts of Assembly of 1954, approved February 13, 1954.