Gordon v. Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County

For many years this Court has adhered to the rule that “[t]he powers of the Boards of Supervisors are fixed by statute and are only such as are conferred expressly or by necessary implication”. Board of Supervisors v. Corbett, 206 Va. 167, 174, 142 S.E.2d 504, 509 (1965), and cases cited therein; American-LaFrance v. Arlington County, 164 Va. 1, 178 S.E. 783 (1935). Today, in my opinion, the Court has failed for the first time to follow that rule.

Admittedly, the Fairfax County Airport Authority Act did not give the Fairfax Board express power to lend money to the Fairfax *836County Airport…