Original Bar Admission Rules

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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.