Chap. 221.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 3191 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March 13, 1914,
entitled an act to amend and re-enact section 3191, chapter 154, of the
Code, as amended by an act in force on and after February 2, 1892, and
by an act in force on and after July 1, 1806, and by an act approved
March 14, 1910, relating to how a person is licensed to practice law in
the State of Virginia. (S B 253]

Approved Murch 14, 1918.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section three thousand one hundred and ninety-one of the Code of
Virginia, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March
thirteenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen, entitled an act to amend
and re-enact section three thousand one hundred and ninety-one,
chapter one hundred and fifty-four, of the Code, as amended by an
act in force on and after February second, eighteen hundred and
ninety-two, and by an act in force on and after July. first, eighteen
hundred and ninety-six, and by an act approved March fourteenth,
nineteen hundred and ten, relating to how a person is licensed to
practice law in the State of Virginia, be amended and re-enacted so
as to read as follows:

Sec. 3191. (a) Board of bar examiners; appointment; terms,
vacancies.—There shall be a board of five competent lawyers resident
in this State for the examination of applicants for admission to the
bar. The members of this board shall be appointed for a term of
five years by the supreme court of appeals, and shall consist of the
present board until their respective terms expire. As such terms
expire or vacancies otherwise occur, they shall be filled by said court
for the full term of five years.

(b) Time and place of examination; issuance of license; list to
be certified to supreme court of appeals.—Such board shall hold at
least two examinations each year, at such times as it may prescribe
by general rule or special order; but if only two of such examina-
tions are held in any one year, they shall not be less than five months
apart. QOne of such examinations shall be held in the city of Rich-
mond and one in the city of Roanoke each year, unless for good
cause it be necessary to hold it elsewhere. It shall issue a license to
practice law in this State to every applicant who shall have success-
fully passed the examination on all the subjects required and shall
have complied with the requirements of this chapter and the rules
of the board, which license shall be signed by at least three members
of the board. The board shall forthwith certify to the supreme
court of appeals a list of those whom it has so licensed, which list
shall be spread upon the records of said court.

(c) Secretary and treasurer of board.—The official stenographer
of the supreme court of appeals shall be ex-officio the secretary and
treasurer of the board, but it may, in case of necessity, appoint a
temporary secretary and treasurer.

(d) President of board; rules and regulations; quorum.—The
board shall elect one of its members president, and may make, alter
and amend rules and regulations as to the legal qualifications of
applicants, the requirements necessary for passing examinations, in
whole or in part, and as to all things necessary or expedient for the
proper conduct of its examinations and the proper discharge of its
duties. Three members shall constitute a quorum for holding ex-
aminations or the transaction of other business.

(e) Preservation of examination papers.—The examination
papers shall be kept on file in the office of the secretary and treasurer
at Richmond for one year after each examination, total or partial,
after which they may be destroyed. :

(f) Re-examinations.—Any applicant failing to pass an ex-
amination, in whole or in part, may again apply at any subsequent
examination upon showing to the board that he has diligently pur-
sued the study of law since the former examination.

(g) Pay of members of board and their secretary and treasurer;
expenses of examinations.—The members of said board shall each
recelve as compensation ten dollars per day for the time spent in
the discharge of their duties as members, and mileage now allowed
by law to the judges of the courts of this Commonwealth, to meet the
expenses incurred in going to, holding and returning from any ses-
sions of the board held for the discharge of any of the duties devolv-
ing upon them. The compensation of the secretary and treasurer
shall be fixed by the board. The per diem and mileage of the mem-
bers of the board, the compensation of the secretary and treasurer,
and the necessary expenses incurred in conducting the examinations,
shall be paid by the secretary and treasurer out of the fund derived
from fees paid by applicants. The compensation for services and
expenses herein provided for shall not exceed the amount received
as fees from applicants, which shall be fixed by the rules and regula-
tions adopted by the said board, as hereinafter provided, relative to
the examinations to be held by said board.

(h) Fees to be paid by applicants.—In order to defray the com-

nsation, mileage and expenses above provided for, the board shall

x by general rule or special order the fees to be paid by each ap-
plicant. If any surplus accumulates from such fees, it shall be
divided at periods of five years between the law libraries of the su-
preme court of appeals at Wytheville and Staunton.

(1) Preliminary certificate of character and of age.—No one, if
a resident of this State, shall take any examination until he shall
file with said board a certificate from the circuit court of the county,
or the judge of the corporation court of the city wherein he resides
that he is a person of honest demeanor, is over the age of twenty-
one years, and has resided in this State the preceding six months, or,
if he is a non-resident of this State and has been a student in one
of the law schools of this State connected with a university or col-
lege, until he shall file with said board a certificate signed by two

rofessors of said law school that. he is a person of honest demeanor,
is over the age of twenty-one years, and has studied law at said
school for a period of two collegiate years.

(j) Preliminary certificate of persons over nineteen and under
Lwenty-one years of age-—Any person who is over the age of nine-
teen and under twenty-one years of age may also take any examina:
tion upon filing with the board a certificate from the circuit cour
of the county, or the judge of the corporation court of the city in
which he resides (or, if he is a non-resident of this State and has
been a student in one of the law schools of this State connected with
a university or college, a certificate of two of the professors in said
school), that he is a person of honest demeanor, that he is over the
age of nineteen years, that he has studied law for a period of two
collegiate years in one of said law schools, or in the office of a prac-
ticing attorney in this State, as the case may be, and that he will
attain the age of twenty-one years on the .... day of ............
(giving the date). No license to an applicant under this section
shall be issued until he attains the age of twenty-one years.

(k) Revocation of license.—The board may, for good cause,
revoke any license issued by it at any time before there has been a
qualification under it in any of the courts of this Commonwealth,
but not thereafter.

(1) Validity of licenses heretofore granted.—All licenses 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 licenses heretofore legally granted, shall be as valid as
if granted under this act; provided, that the attorney at law holding
the same has already commenced the practice of his profession, or
shall commence the practice thereof within two years from the date
of the granting of said license; otherwise, the said attorney shall
not practice in this State without first obtaining a license as pro-
vided by this act.

2. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby
repealed.