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The first meeting of the State Board of
Law Examiners was held at the office of Board President, Samuel Dickson, Esquire, in the
Bullitt Building, in Philadelphia on June 23, 1902. The
Board reviewed and adopted 10 rules regulating admission to the bar of the Supreme Court
of Pennsylvania. The rules were then
presented to “the Honorable, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania,” for
approval.
On November 11, 1902, the Court approved
the Rules Concerning Admission to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The rules, which took effect the first Monday of
January 1903, stated:
RULE I.
No person shall be admitted to practice as an attorney in this Court except
upon the recommendation of the State Board of Law Examiners.
RULE II.
Any applicant for admission to the Bar of this court who is now in good and
regular standing at the Bar of a Court of Common Pleas of this Commonwealth, and after he
shall have practiced therein for at least two years, may be admitted without examination
upon the certificate of the State Board of Law Examiners . . .
RULE III.
Any student who, on or prior to this date, has begun the study of the law,
under the rules governing admissions to the Bar of the Judicial district within which he
resides, may apply to the State Board of Law Examiners for examination and admission. . .
. .
RULE IV.
No person shall be registered as a student at law for the purpose of
becoming entitled to admission to the Bar of the Supreme Court until he shall have
satisfied the State Board of Law Examiners that he is of good moral character, and shall
have passed a preliminary examination upon the following subjects: (1) English language and literature; (2) Outlines
of universal history; (3) History of England and of the United States; (4) Arithmetic,
algebra through quadratics, and plane geometry; (5) Modern geography; (6) The first four
books of Caesar’s Commentaries, the first six books of the AEneid, and the first four
orations of Cicero against Cataline.
RULE V.
Candidates for admission, who have spent at least three years after
registration in the study of the law, either by attendance upon the regular course of a
law school, offering at least a three years’ course, eight months in the year and an
average of ten hours per week each year, or partly in a law school and partly in the
office of a practicing attorney, or by the bona fide service of a regular clerkship
in the office of a practicing attorney, shall be eligible to appear for examination for
admission to the Bar of this Court upon complying with the following requirements:
A candidate must advertise his intention
to apply for admission in a law periodical or a newspaper designated by the Board, and
published within the judicial district within which he shall have pursued his studies, and
in the Legal Intelligencer, once a week for four weeks immediately preceding his
appearance before the Board.
He must file the necessary credentials
with the Board in such form as shall be prescribed at least twenty-one days before the
date of examination, and shall pay to the Board a fee of twenty dollars.
He must file a certificate, signed by at
least three members of the Bar in good standing in the judicial district in which he has
resided or intends to practice, that he is personally known to them, and that they believe
him to be of good moral character.
A certificate from the dean of the law
school or preceptor that he has been regular in attendance and pursued the study of the
law with diligence from the time of his registration.
RULE VI.
Every applicant for admission must sustain a satisfactory examination in
Blackstone’s Commentaries, constitutional law, including the Constitutions of the
United States and Pennsylvania, equity, the law of real and personal property, evidence,
decedents’ estates, landlord and tenant, contracts, partnership, corporations,
crimes, torts, domestic relations, common law pleading and practice, Pennsylvania
practice, the Federal statutes relating to the judiciary and to bankruptcy, Pennsylvania
statutes and decisions and the rules of Court.
RULE VII.
Examinations for registration and admission to the Bar shall be conducted in
writing, and shall be held simultaneously, after due notice, twice a year, in the cities
of Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Williamsport and Wilkes-Barre.
RULE VIII. . . . The members of the Board
shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed their traveling and other
expenses. . . . The Board shall also have
power to appoint a Secretary and a Treasurer, or the same person may hold both offices,
and they may pay to each assistant examiner and to the Secretary and Treasurer, out of the
fees received, and after deduction of the necessary expenses, a reasonable
compensation.
RULE IX.
It shall be the duty of the State Board of Law Examiners to prepare a paper
for gratuitous distribution among intending applicants for registration or admission,
containing detailed information as to the subjects of examination.
RULE X.
Attorneys from other States, upon presenting satisfactory evidence that they
are members in good standing of the Appellate Court of last resort of the state from which
they came; that they have practiced in a Court of Record of that state for at least five
years, and that they are of good moral character, may be admitted to the Bar of this Court
without examination upon the recommendation of the State Board (provided, however,
that the Board may, in its discretion, require any such applicant to take a final
examination).
Attorneys from other States, upon
presenting satisfactory evidence that they are members in good standing of a Court of
Record of the State from which they came, and have practiced therein for at least one
year, and that they are of good moral character, may, in the discretion of the State
Board, be permitted to take a final examination without registration.
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