ment in J. B. Black,
_The Reign of Elizabeth, 1558-1603_, (Oxford: Oxford University,
1936), pp. 174-177, applies to Virginia's county government in the
colonial and early federal periods.

[44] The first statute on this subject, in 1628, used the term
"commissioners" (I Hening, _Statutes_, 133). In 1662, this term was
replaced by "justices". P. A. Bruce, _Institutional History of
Virginia in the Seventeenth Century_, (New York: Putnam, 1910), I,
488. However, Porter, _County Government_, p. 170, states that
"justice of the peace" was the full title during most of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

[45] Porter, _County Government_, p. 168.

[46] In 1657, for example, the House of Burgesses enacted legislation
requiring that appointments be recommended by the county court and
approved by the Assembly. (I Hening, _Statutes_, 402, 480) But this
requirement appears to have been repealed after the restoration of
Charles II.

[47] Porter, _County Government_, p. 49, cites the _Calendar of State
Papers_, I, 261, listing the numbers of justices in nearby counties as
follows: Fauquier, 18; Prince William, 18; Loudoun, 17.

[48] Charles Sydnor, _American Revolutionaries In The Making_, (New
York: Collier, 1962), p. 64.

[49] Hening, _Statutes_, I, 117.

[50] Hening, _Statutes_, I, 305.

[51] Hening, _Statutes_, II, 28, 280.

[52] Porter, _County Government_, p. 42.

[53] _Ibid._, pp. 27-28.

[54] Hening, _Statutes_, I, 330, 484.

[55] These rules included prohibitions against extortion of excessive
fees, acting as lawyers in their own courts, falsifying revenue
returns, multiple job-holding and the like. See Hening, _Statutes_, I,
265, 297, 330, 333, 465, 523; II, 163, 291. Porter, _County
Government_, 68, comments that "the office of sheriff, judging from
the number of acts which the assembly found it necessary to pass, was
the problem child of ... [the 18th century], not only in regard to the
duties of the office, but also in the method of appointment."

[56] Shepherd, _Laws of Virginia_, I, 367.

[57] _Calendar of State Papers_, IV, 416.

[58] Hening, _Statutes_, XI, 352.

[59] Hening, _Statutes_, IV, 350.

[60] Hening, _Statutes_, II, 419; IV, 350.

[61] Hening, _Statutes_, IX, 351.

[62] Hening, _Statutes_, XII, 243.

[63] John Wayland, _History of Rockingham County, Virginia_, (Dayton,
Virginia: Ruebush-Elkins, 1912), pp. 424-425.

[64] Porter, _County Government_, p. 109, citing _Calend