Pa. Cons. Stat. » 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. (JUDICIARY) / Chapter 31
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes

42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3101 (2026)

  Qualifications of judicial officers generally.

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PART III

SELECTION, RETENTION AND REMOVAL

OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS

 

Chapter

31.  Selection and Retention of Judicial Officers

33.  Discipline, Removal and Retirement of Judicial Officers

 

Enactment.  Part III was added July 9, 1976, P.L.586, No.142, effective 60 days from the date of final enactment of the act of April 28, 1978, P.L.202, No.53.

 

 

CHAPTER 31

SELECTION AND RETENTION OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS

 

Subchapter

A.  Qualifications Generally

B.  Qualifications of Certain Minor Judiciary

C.  Selection of Judicial Officers

D.  Tenure and Compensation

 

Enactment.  Chapter 31 was added July 9, 1976, P.L.586, No.142, effective 60 days from the date of final enactment of the act of April 28, 1978, P.L.202, No.53.

 

 

SUBCHAPTER A

QUALIFICATIONS GENERALLY

 

Sec.

3101.  Qualifications of judicial officers generally.

§ 3101.  Qualifications of judicial officers generally.

(a)  General rule.--Judges and magisterial district judges shall be citizens of this Commonwealth. Judges, except judges of the Pittsburgh Magistrates Court and the Traffic Court of Philadelphia, shall be members of the bar of this Commonwealth. Judges of the Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts, for a period of one year preceding their election or appointment and during their continuance in office, shall reside within this Commonwealth. Other judges and magisterial district judges, for a period of one year preceding their election or appointment and during their continuance in office, shall reside within their respective districts, except when temporarily assigned to another district pursuant to law. Judges and magisterial district judges shall be at least 21 years of age.

(b)  Mental health review officers.--Mental health review officers shall be members of the bar of this Commonwealth without restriction as to county of residence and where possible should be familiar with the field of mental health. Judges of the Philadelphia Municipal Court may be appointed mental health review officers.

(Apr. 28, 1978, P.L.202, No.53, eff. 60 days; Oct. 5, 1980, P.L.693, No.142, eff. 60 days; May 27, 1994, P.L.250, No.37, eff. imd.; Nov. 30, 2004, P.L.1618, No.207, eff. 60 days)

 

2004 Amendment.  Act 207 amended subsec. (a). See section 29 of Act 207 in the appendix to this title for special provisions relating to construction of law.

References in Text.  The Traffic Court of Philadelphia, referred to in this section, was abolished by Joint Resolution No.2 of 2016.

Cross References.  Section 3101 is referred to in sections 3131, 4121 of this title.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1984–2019 · leading case: In re Jones, 476 A.2d 1287 (Pa. 1984).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
In re Jones, 476 A.2d 1287 (Pa. 1984). · cites it 2× “1983-84); 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 3101, 3111-3119, 3301; Act of June 25, 1919, P.”
State ex rel. Haught v. Donnahoe, 321 S.E.2d 677 (W. Va. 1984). “V, § 12; 42 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 3101 (Pur-don 1981); R.”
North Point I Condo Owners Assoc v. Burney, H., No. 2325 EDA 2018 (Pa. Super. Ct. June 27, 2019). “42 Pa.C.S. § 3101. In turn, Section 3314(b) of the Uniform Condominium Act, 42 Pa.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.