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Excerpt from Federal Court Rules Annotated: Rules of Practice in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania at Law and in Bankruptcy; With Annotations Ordered, that the Rules of Court of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, including the Rules in Bankruptcy, as printed by Soney & Sage, are hereby adopted as the authorized edition of the Rules of Court of this District. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This Handbook is designed to help people dealing with civil lawsuits in federal court without legal representation. Proceeding without a lawyer is called proceeding "pro se1," a Latin phrase meaning "for oneself," or sometimes "in propria persona," meaning "in his or her own person." Representing yourself in a lawsuit can be complicated, time consuming, and costly. Failing to follow court procedures can mean losing your case. For these reasons, you are urged to work with a lawyer if possible. Chapter 2 gives suggestions on finding a lawyer. Do not rely entirely on this Handbook. This Handbook provides a summary of civil lawsuit procedures, but it may not cover all procedures that may apply in your case. It also does not teach you about the laws that will control your case. Make sure you read the applicable federal and local court rules and do your own research at a law library or online to understand your case. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California has Clerk's Offices in the San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland courthouses. Clerk's Office staff can answer general questions, but they cannot give you any legal advice. For example, they cannot help you decide what to do in your lawsuit, tell you what the law means, or even advise you when documents are due. There are Legal Help Centers in the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose courthouses where you can get free help with your lawsuit from an attorney who can help you prepare documents and give limited legal advice. This attorney will not be your lawyer and you will still be representing yourself. See Chapter 2 for more details.

Established in 1684, over a century before the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court is the oldest appellate court in North America. This balanced, comprehensive history of the Court examines over three centuries of legal proceedings and cases before the body, the controversies and conflicts with which it dealt, and the impact of its decisions and of the case law its justices created Introduced by constitutional scholar Ken Gormley, this volume describes the Supreme Court’s structure and powers and focuses at length on the Court’s work in deciding notable cases of constitutional law, civil rights, torts, criminal law, labor law, and administrative law. Through three sections, “The Structure and Powers of the Supreme Court,” “Decisional Law of the Supreme Court,” and “Reporting Supreme Court Decisions,” the contributors address the many ways in which the Court and its justices have shaped life and law in Pennsylvania and beyond. They consider how it has adjudicated new and complex issues arising from some of the most notable events and tragedies in American history, including the struggle for religious liberty in colonial Pennsylvania, the Revolutionary War, slavery, the Johnstown Flood, the Homestead Steel Strike and other labor conflicts, both World Wars, and, more recently, the dramatic rise of criminal procedural rights and the expansion of tort law. Featuring an afterword by Chief Justice Saylor and essays by leading jurists, deans, law and history professors, and practicing attorneys, this fair-minded assessment of the Court is destined to become a criterion volume for lawmakers, scholars, and anyone interested in legal history in the Keystone State and the United States.