ution of
1869 created a superintendent of the poor for each county, elected by
popular vote, and the overseers of the poor became township officers.
With the abolition of the townships, the superintendent of the poor
also disappeared and the overseers became officers of the magisterial
districts.[110]

In the early days of the nineteenth century, the justices of the
County Court had been responsible for the County's militia. This
system was changed in 1833 when the militia were reorganized to form
divisions, brigades and regiments on a state-wide basis. Officers were
appointed by the governor on recommendation of the county court. This
system continued until the Civil War, and when the militia was
established after the war it was managed entirely from the state
level.[111]

In the changes that followed the shift of governing power to the board
of county supervisors, one of the chief losers was the county sheriff.
He ceased to have any control of elections or revenue matters, and his
other powers and prerogatives connected with administrative functions
of county government were lost to others. He became exclusively a
peace officer and custodian of the county jail, and these are the
duties of his office today.

As the nineteenth century ended, Virginia moved toward another
constitutional convention--its fifth since 1776--with the hope of
modernizing the machinery of government. As matters turned out,
however, the resulting constitution of 1902 was not a forward-looking
document, and its chief results were to formalize changes which had
already occurred in practice. Thus, much debate was spent on how
voting qualifications should be regulated, and whether the old county
court should be abolished or not. Fairfax County's representatives in
the convention voted for retaining the county court, arguing that the
monthly sessions had significant social values--an "heirloom of great
psychological importance." Ultimately, however, the vote went against
retention of the county court and it was abolished. Its judicial
functions were assigned to the circuit court, and its legislative and
administrative functions were performed by the board of
supervisors.[112]

The disappearance of this political institution which had been the
focal point of Virginia's local government for almost 300 years,
marked the end of an era which reflected the tradition that public
affairs were best managed by the county's gentlemen freeholders. But
it