Keiser v. Bell

OPINION

HIGGINBOTHAM, District Judge.

I

INTRODUCTION

In November, 1965, the plaintiff, E. David Keiser, was re-elected as Magistrate of the City of Philadelphia, having first been elected to that office in 1941 and continuously re-elected between 1941 and 1965. Plaintiff was a part of what in Philadelphia has now become an extinct specie of the Judiciary; for though neither a lawyer nor formally trained in the law, plaintiff was one of several laymen who were permitted to serve as a Magistrate in the City of Philadelphia- — exercising important judicial responsibilities on both criminal and civil…