Section 105. Local Rules

(A) For the purpose of this rule, the term ‘‘local rule’’ shall include every rule, administrative order, regulation, directive, policy, custom, usage, form or order of general application, however labeled or promulgated, which is adopted or enforced by a court of common pleas, by the Philadelphia Municipal Court, or by the Philadelphia Municipal Court Traffic Division to govern criminal practice and procedure.

(B) Local rules shall not be inconsistent with any general rule of the Supreme Court or any Act of Assembly.

(1) The Criminal Procedural Rules Committee, at any time, may recommend that the Supreme Court suspend, vacate, or require amendment of a local rule.

(2) The Criminal Procedural Rules Committee may suspend that local rule pending action by the Court on that recommendation.

(C) Local rules shall be given numbers that are keyed to the number of the general rules to which the local rules correspond.

(D) All proposed local criminal rules and proposed amendments to local criminal rules shall be submitted in writing to the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee for the Committee to review. The adopting court shall not proceed with the proposed local rule or amendments until the adopting court receives written notification from the Committee that the proposed local rule or amendments are not inconsistent with any general rule of the Supreme Court.

(E) All local rules shall be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin to be effective and enforceable.

(1) The adopting court shall not publish the local rule in the Pennsylvania Bulletin until it has received the statement from the Committee that the proposed local rule is not inconsistent with any general rule of the Supreme Court.

(2) The adopting court shall distribute two certified paper copies of the local rule to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The adopting court also shall distribute to the Legislative Reference Bureau a copy of the local rule on a computer diskette or on a CD-ROM, that complies with the requirements of 1 Pa. Code § 13.11(b).

(3) The effective date of the local rule shall not be less than 30 days after the date of publication of the rule in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

(F) Contemporaneously with publishing the local rule in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, the adopting court shall:

(1) file one certified copy of the local rule with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts; and

(2) publish a copy of the local rule on the Unified Judicial System’s web site at http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/localrules/ruleselection.aspx.

(G) The local rules shall be kept continuously available for public inspection and copying in the office of the prothonotary or clerk of courts. Upon request and payment of reasonable costs of reproduction and mailing, the prothonotary or clerk shall furnish to any person a copy of any local rule.

(H) A local rule promulgated before the effective date of this rule shall be filed on or before that effective date with the prothonotary or clerk of courts and shall be kept by the prothonotary or clerk for inspection, copying, and furnishing as provided in paragraph (G).

(I) No pleading or other legal paper shall be refused for filing by the clerk of courts based on a requirement of a local rule. No case shall be dismissed nor request for relief granted or denied because of failure to comply with a local rule. In any case of noncompliance with a local rule, the court shall alert the party to the specific provision at issue and provide a reasonable time for the party to comply with the local rule.

Comment

The policy of the Supreme Court as declared in the Order promulgating this rule is ‘‘to implement the unified judicial system under the Constitution of 1968, to facilitate the statewide practice of law under this Court’s general rules, and to promote the further policy that a general rule of criminal procedure normally preempts the subject covered.’’ In accordance with the Court’s policy, it is intended that local rules should not repeat general rules or statutory provisions verbatim or substantially verbatim nor should local rules make it difficult for attorneys to practice law in several counties.

The caption or other words used as a label or designation shall not determine whether something is or establishes a local rule; if the definition in paragraph (A) of this rule is satisfied the matter is a local rule regardless of what it may be called. The provisions of this rule are also intended to apply to any amendments to a ‘‘local rule.’’ Nothing in this rule is intended to apply to case-specific orders.

To simplify the use of local rules, local criminal rules are required to be given numbers that are keyed to the number of the general criminal rules to which the local rules correspond. This requirement is not intended to apply to local rules that govern the general business of the court and which do not correspond to a general criminal rule.

Paragraph (D), added in 2008, requires that, before publishing the local rule or proceeding with any of the other requirements in Rule 105(E) and (F), the adopting court must submit all proposed local criminal rules or rule amendments to the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee for review.

The 2000 and 2008 amendments emphasize that the adopting authority must comply with all the provisions of this rule before any local rule, or any amendments to local rules, will be effective and enforceable.

Paragraph (E) requires the local rule to be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin to be effective. Pursuant to 1 Pa. Code § 13.11(b)—(f), any documents that are submitted for publication must be accompanied by a diskette or CD-ROM formatted in MS-DOS, ASCII, Microsoft Word, or WordPerfect. The diskette or CD-ROM must be labeled with the court’s name and address and the local rule’s computer file name.

Paragraph (G) requires that a separate consolidated set of local rules be maintained in the prothonotary’s or clerk’s office.

The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts maintains a web site containing the texts of local rules at: http://www.pacourts.us/T/SpecialCourts/LocalRules.htm.

The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts also maintains a web site containing all local criminal rules adopted or amended after February 1, 2009 at: http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/localrules/ruleselection.aspx.

Although under paragraph (E)(3) a local rule shall not be effective until at least 30 days after the date of publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, when a situation arises that requires immediate action, the local court may act by specific orders governing particular cases in the interim before an applicable local rule becomes effective.

The purpose of paragraph (I) is to (1) require that all documents presented for filing are accepted by the clerk of courts, also see Rule 576(A)(3), and (2) prevent the dismissal of cases, or the grant or denial of requested relief, because a party has failed to comply with a local rule. In addition, paragraph (I) requires that the party be alerted to the local rule, and be given a reasonable amount of time to comply with the local rule.

After the court has alerted the party to the local rule pursuant to paragraph (I), the court may impose a sanction for subsequent noncompliance either on counsel or the defendant if proceeding pro se, but may not dismiss the case, or grant or deny relief because of non-compliance.

Official Note

Rule 6 adopted January 28, 1983, effective July 1, 1983; amended May 19, 1987, effective July 1, 1987; renumbered Rule 105 and amended March 1, 2000, effective April 1, 2001; amended October 24, 2000, effective January 1, 2001; Comment revised June 8, 2001, effective immediately; amended October 15, 2004, effective January 1, 2005; amended September 9, 2005, effective February 1, 2006; amended January 25, 2008, effective February 1, 2009; amended January 30, 2009, effective February 1, 2009; amended May 7, 2014, effective immediately.

Committee Explanatory Reports:

Final Report explaining the March 1, 2000 reorganization and renumbering of the rules published with the Court’s Order at 30 Pa.B. 1478 (March 18, 2000).

Final Report explaining the October 24, 2000 amendments published with the Court’s Order at 30 Pa.B. 5842 (November 11, 2000).

Final Report explaining the June 8, 2001 Comment revision citing to the AOPC’s webpage published with the Court’s Order at 31 Pa.B. 3310 (June 23, 2001).

Final Report explaining the October 15, 2004 amendment to paragraph (A), and to paragraph (C)(3) concerning the Legislative Reference Bureau publication requirements, published with the Court’s Order at 34 Pa.B. 5893 (October 30, 2004).

Final Report explaining the September 9, 2005 amendments to paragraph (A) published with the Court’s Order at 35 Pa.B. 5242 (September 24, 2005).

Final Report explaining the January 25, 2008 changes to Rule 105 concerning submission of local rules for review prior to adoption published with the Court’s Order at 38 Pa.B. 746 (February 9, 2008).

Final Report explaining the January 30, 2009 changes to Rule 105 concerning publication of local rules on the UJS Portal published with the Court’s Order at 39 Pa.B. 829 (February 14, 2009).

Final Report explaining the May 7, 2014 amendments concerning the transfer of the Philadelphia Traffic Court functions to the Philadelphia Municipal Court published with the Court’s Order at 44 Pa.B. 3065 (May 24, 2014).

The provisions of this Rule 105 amended October 24, 2000, effective January 1, 2001, 30 Pa.B. 5841; amended June 8, 2001, effective immediately, 31 Pa.B. 3310; amended October 18, 2004, effective January 1, 2005, 34 Pa.B. 5892; amended September 9, 2005, effective February 1, 2006, 35 Pa.B. 5239; amended February 8, 2008, effective February 1, 2009, 38 Pa.B. 745; amended January 30, 2009, effective as to all local criminal rules adopted or amended on or after February 1, 2009; amended May 7, 2014, effective immediately, 44 Pa.B. 3056. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (343839) to (343840) and (364089).