Each county court consisted of a number of men named in the commission
of the peace that the royal governor or lieutenant governor or president
of the Council issued. On each commission, the names of several of the
most senior men are identified as of the quorum, which meant that at
least one of the members of the quorum had to be present for the court
to sit. Even if a majority of all of the members attended, the court
could not procede to business without at least one of the members of the
quorum in attendance.

Ergo, Fontaine was one of the senior justices of the peace in the
county.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at http://www
lva.virginia.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Kilby
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 3:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] Member of the Quorum?

Question for all. I am reading an endnote (#294, p. 178) to Edward
Porter Alexander's *The Journal of John Fontaine*. He says here about
James Fontaine in King William County that "he served on the quorum."
Quorum of what? This would be between 1718 and 1735.

Craig Kilby

"
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