Mercer, James, 1736-1793

James Mercer (February 26, 1736 – October 31, 1793), was an American lawyer, military officer, planter, jurist, and politician.

Born at his family's Marlborough plantation in Stafford County in the Colony of Virginia, Mercer received a private education suitable as well as access to his father's library, if not the best, then one of the best in the area. Mercer traveled to Williamsburg for higher education under prominent lawyer George Wythe and others, and graduated from the College of William and Mary about 1755. Like his two older brothers, Mercer accepted an officer's commission after graduation. In 1756, Captain James Mercer became the commander of Fort Loudoun. After the war, Mercer studied law and was admitted to the bar. Active in pre-Revolutionary affairs, he served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1762 to 1775, as a member of the Virginia conventions of 1774, 1775, and 1776, and as a member of the committee of public safety in 1775 and 1776. He served as Hampshire County's first two delegates in the House of Delegates in 1776. Fellow delegates then chose Mercer as one of Virginia's representatives in the Continental Congress in 1779.

Legislators selected Mercer as judge of the general court in 1780 and in 1788 he became one of the judges on the first Court of Appeals (later reorganized as the Supreme Court of Virginia). Judge Mercer died in office in Richmond. He is buried in Richmond at historic St. John's Episcopal Church.