Exhibit 31(a)

                                  CERTIFICATION

I,  John R. Maxwell, President and Chief Executive Officer of James Monroe
Bancorp, Inc, certify that:

1.  I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-KSB of James Monroe Bancorp,
    Inc.;

2.  Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of
    a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
    statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
    were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.  Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
    information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects
    the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the small
    business issuer as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.  The small business issuer's other certifying officer and I are responsible
    for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
    defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the small
    business issuer and have:

    (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
        disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
        supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the small
        business issuer, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
        to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period
        in which this report is being prepared;

    (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuer's disclosure
        controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
        about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures as of
        the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation;
        and

    (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the small business issuer's
        internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
        small business issuer's most recent fiscal quarter (the small business
        issuer's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that
        has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
        the small business issuer's internal control over financial reporting;
        and

5.  The small business issuer's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
    based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
    reporting, to the small business issuer's auditors and the audit committee
    of the small business issuer's board of directors (or persons performing the
    equivalent functions):

    (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
        operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
        reasonably likely to adversely affect the small business issuer's
        ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information;
        and


    (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
        employees who have a significant role in the small business issuer's
        internal control over financial reporting.


Date:  March 10, 2004                /s/ John R. Maxwell
                                     ------------------------------------------
                                     John R. Maxwell
                                     President and Chief Executive Officer