ADDENDA.

The following is the bill approved by the Association at its annual meeting, 1889, and referred to in the resolution adopted on page 46, ante.

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE LICENSING OF Persons TO PRACTICE LAW IN THIS STATE.

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That any male citizen above the age of twenty-one years, who has resided in this State for six months next preceding the date of his application for admission, of good moral character and who possesses the requisite qualifications of learning and ability, to be ascertained as hereinafter provided, shall be entitled to admission to practice law in all the courts of this State.

2. That no attorney or other person shall practice law in any of the courts of this State without being admitted thereto as hereinafter provided.

3. Every person desiring to practice law in the courts of this State, other than those provided for in the seventh section of this act, must apply by petition in writing to the circuit court of the county or the circuit or corporation or hustings court of the city or town in which he has resided for the period of six months next preceding, or, where he has so resided in the city of Richmond, to the circuit, hustings or chancery court of the city of Richmond, and in such petition must show that he is above the age of twentyone years; that he has resided in the county or corporation, to the court of which application is made, for the period of six months next preceding; that he is a man of good moral character, and that he is desirous of being admitted to practice law in the courts of this State; and such petition may be filed in the clerk's office of such court, or presented in open court in term.

4. When any such application is received, whether in the clerk's office or in court, the clerk shall immediately docket the same, and the court at its next term, whether regular or special, if filed in vacation, or at the term during which it is filed, if filed in open court, unless continued on the motion of the applicant, shall appoint an examining board of not less than three members

of the bar in good standing, who shall strictly examine the applicant in open court touching his qualifications for admission as an attorney; and the said court shall also require and receive evi. dence of his probity and good moral character, and if, upon such actual examination, either conducted wholly by such committee or supplemented by an examination by the court itself, and having heard satisfactory evidence of his probity and good moral character, the said court shall be of opinion that such applicant is qualified to discharge the duties of attorney and is worthy to be admitted, the said court shall admit him to practice law, and shall enter of record that such examination has actually taken place, and that satisfactory proof of his probity and good moral character has been adduced; and a duly certified copy of such order shall be sufficient to entitle such applicant, on motion, to qualify in any of the courts of this State: provided, that if such court cannot conveniently hear such examination in open court, with due regard for other business pending before it, it shall be lawful for such examining committee to conduct such examination in writing elsewhere than in the presence of the court, which, when completed, shall be returned to and filed in the court, and the court shall pass thereon just as if such examination had taken place in open court, supplementing it by an additional examination, if it shall consider such additional examination necessary, and shall also require satisfactory evidence of the probity and good moral character of the applicant in the same manner as if such examination had taken place in open court: and provided further, that after any examination authorized by this section is completed, the examining committee shall in writing certify to the court whether, in the opinion of such committee, the application should be granted or rejected, but such recommendation shall not be binding on the court, which may, in its discretion, disregard the same.

5. Any person whose application is rejected by the court shall have the right to apply again after the expiration of six months from the date of such rejection, and so on after the expiration of each six months thereafter.

6. The clerk shall be entitled to charge for services rendered by him on such application the same fees that he is allowed by law to charge for other similar services, which fees shall be paid by the applicant.

7. Any person duly authorized and practicing as counsel or attorney at law in any State or Territory of the United States, or in the District of Columbia, may be, on motion, admitted to practice as such in the courts of this State without undergoing any examination.

8. Every person allowed to practice law in this State shall, before each court of record in which he intends to practice and in

which he shall not have qualified heretofore, take an oath that he will honestly demean himself in the practice of the law, and to the best of his ability execute his office of attorney at law; and shall also, when he is licensed in this State, take the oath of fidelity to the Commonwealth.

9. All licenses heretofore granted or signed by any judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of this State since the fourteenth day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and all other licenses heretofore legally granted, shall be as valid as if granted under this act.

10. If any person shall practice law in any court of this State without being so licensed, admitted or authorized, or without taking the oaths required, he shall forfeit one hundred and fifty dollars for each case in which he shall appear as attorney, onehalf whereof shall be to the informer: provided, however, that this penalty shall not be incurred by any attorney for instituting an action or suit after being admitted, if he shall qualify in the court in which such action or suit is instituted at the term during which such action or suit is heard.

11. Sections 3191, 3192, 3193 and 3194 of the Code of 1887, and all acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith, are hereby repealed.

12. This act shall be in force from its passage.