Piedmont Finance Corp. v. Commonwealth

I think it may be safely assumed, without controversy, that forfeitures are not favored and will not be enforced unless plainly required; that there is always a legislative intent to express statutes in language readily understood by persons of average intelligence; and that, in the interpretation of penal statutes, if there is an apparent conflict between two statutes, or doubt as to which is applicable, the citizen is entitled to the benefit of that doubt.

In Enoch v. Commonwealth, 141 Va. 411, 436, 126 S. E. 222, 230, it is said: “If there is a reasonable doubt about this construction of…