Fleming, William, 1736-1824

Judge William Fleming (July 6, 1736 – February 15, 1824) was an American lawyer, jurist and political figure from Cumberland County, Virginia. He served as a Delegate to the Continental Congress and as Chief Justice of Virginia.

Fleming was educated at The College of William & Mary and studied law, after which he started practicing law before the county courts. In 1772, he became a member of the House of Burgesses, representing Cumberland County as his father John Fleming had done before him, and remained in this position until that body was terminated by the revolution. When the new state government of Virginia was instituted, he went back to Williamsburg as a member of the first House of Delegates.

On December 10, 1778, he was elected a member of Continental Congress, but it was April 1779 before he reported there. In September, he took a leave of absence and returned to Virginia and the House of Delegates. In 1781, he was elected and began serving as a judge of the Virginia general court. Governor Beverley Randolph subsequently appointed Fleming to the Supreme Court of Appeals. When the court was reorganized in 1788, he was one of the five judges chosen for the new court. He became President and Chief Justice of the Court in 1809, a position he held until his death on February 15, 1824.

Judge Fleming was buried at his Summerville plantation. In the late 1980s most of the Summerville tract was built over by a housing development, including the area where the house would have stood and most likely the burial grounds of Fleming and his slaves.