William Fleming (judge)

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William Fleming (July 6, 1736 – February 15, 1824) was an American lawyer and jurist from Cumberland County, Virginia. He was educated at William and Mary College after which he started practicing law before the county courts. In 1772, he became a member of the House of Burgesses 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 of 1779 before he reported there. In September, he took a leave of absence and returned to Virginia and the House of Delegates. On November 26, 1780, he was elected a judge of the general court. This made him an ex—officio member of the Court of Appeals. When the court was reorganized in 1788, he was one of the five judges chosen for the new court and became president of the court in 1809. He held this position until his death on February 15, 1824.

William Fleming worked as a legal clerk for Patrick Henry relating in Henry's land deals in 1767. When Patrick Henry sent William Fleming to the westwoard lands of Virginia to record the land. Patrick Henry told Fleming, "Even the trees, herbs grass tones hills etc. I think ought to be described."

In 1775, Henry and Fleming once again worked together when his father John Fleming stepped down as a part of Henry's political camp. One reason William Fleming excelled in polticis was due to the fact he worked for Patrick Henry as a land recorder, legal clerk, political aid, and laywer.