speaking of
the members of the court as "Gentleman Justices". They were both the
products and caretakers of a system that placed control of public
affairs in the hands of an aristocratic class, and at any time in the
County's history up to mid-nineteenth century a list of the County's
justices was certain to include the best leadership the County had.

Appointments were for life, and lacked any provision for compensation.
Service on the court was, therefore, considered an honorable
obligation of those whose position and means permitted them to perform
it. That this was considered a serious and active responsibility was
indicated by the fact that justices could be fined for non-attendance
at court.[45] Through the colonial period and well after the War of
Independence the justices of the county court were appointed by the
governor, and, although episodes during this period indicated the
recurrence of friction between the governor and General Assembly over
the power to make these appointments, neither the local court nor the
Assembly was able to assert permanently its claim to participate in
the appointment process.[46] The number of justices of the county
court varied considerably in different counties and times. By law the
number was set at eight members; yet in 1769 Fairfax County had 17
justices, and appeared to be typical of other counties in the
region.[47]

Appointments to the county court in some instances seemed almost
hereditary, for when a justice of one of the prominent local families
died or retired to attend to other interests it frequently occurred
that his place was taken by a younger relative. Historian Charles
Sydnor has noted that during the twenty years prior to the War of
Independence three-fourths of the 1600 justices of the peace appointed
in Virginia came from three hundred to four hundred families.[48]

Directly or indirectly, the justices of the county court influenced
the selection of all other county officers. The clerk of the court was
elected outright, but others--including the sheriff, coroner,
inspectors and commissioners for special duties, and militia officers
below the rank of brigadier--were commissioned by the governor from
lists submitted by the justices.

The office of clerk of the county court presumably dates from the
origin of the court itself, for references to clerk's fees are found
in the law as early as 1621,[49] and authority for appointment by the
governor is noted in