<P> There are exceptions to the general structure for counties and cities, notably the City of Richmond, which has a popularly elected mayor who serves as chief executive separate from the city council, an innovative arrangement which has caused some local turmoil under the first mayor so elected, former Governor Lawrence D. Wilder . As of November 2007, the courts were in the process of clarifying the duties and powers, and limitations thereupon in response to multiple lawsuits filed by other locally elected officials . </P> <P> Local government consists of city and county officers, as well as people who are known as constitutional officers . The positions of these constitutional officers are provided for by the Virginia Constitution . Article 7, Section 4 of the Virginia constitution provides, "There shall be elected by the qualified voters of each county and city a treasurer, a sheriff, an attorney for the Commonwealth, a clerk, who shall be clerk of the court in the office of which deeds are recorded, and a commissioner of revenue ." The local constitutional offices are not appointed by the city or county . The Judges of the Circuit Court, the General District Court and the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court are appointed by the State legislature . The constitutional officers have salaries set by the state through its compensation board, although the locality may supplement the salaries . This structure allows those officers a measure of independence within the local government setting . </P> <P> The Commonwealth's Attorney is the elected prosecuting attorney for the locality . The Sheriff is the law enforcement officer for localities without a police department . Where a police department has been established, the Sheriff remains authorized to enforce the criminal laws . The Sheriff, however, is responsible for the operation of the local jail, courthouse security and service of civil papers and may also execute criminal warrants . </P> <P> Founded in 1619, the Virginia General Assembly is still in existence as the oldest legislature in the New World . In colonial Virginia, the lower house of the legislature was called the House of Burgesses . Together with the Governor's Council, the House of Burgesses made up the "General Assembly". The Governor's Council was composed of 12 men appointed by the British Monarch to advise the Governor . The Council also served as the "General Court" of the colony, a colonial equivalent of a Supreme Court . Members of the House of Burgesses were chosen by all those who could vote in the colony . Each county chose two people or burgesses to represent it, while the College of William and Mary and the cities of Norfolk, Williamsburg and Jamestown each chose one burgess . The Burgesses met to make laws for the colony and set the direction for its future growth; the Council would then review the laws and either approve or disapprove them . The approval of the Burgesses, the Council, and the governor was needed to pass a law . The idea of electing burgesses was important and new . It gave Virginians a chance to control their own government for the first time . At first, the burgesses were elected by all free men in the colony . Women, indentured servants, and Native Americans could not vote . Later the rules for voting changed, making it necessary for men to own at least fifty acres (200,000 m2) of land in order to vote . </P>

Who makes the laws in the va legislative branch