Rule 4. Adjudicative Responsibilities.

 A.  Magisterial district judges shall be faithful to the law and maintain competence in it. They shall be unswayed by partisan interests, public clamor or fear of criticism.

 B.  Magisterial district judges shall maintain order and decorum in the proceedings before them. They shall wear judicial robes while conducting hearings and trials.

 C.  Magisterial district judges shall be patient, dignified and courteous to litigants, witnesses, lawyers and others with whom they deal in their official capacity, and shall require similar conduct of lawyers, of their staff and others subject to their direction and control.

 D.  Magisterial district judges shall accord to every person who is legally interested in a proceeding, or their lawyer, full right to be heard according to law and, except as authorized by law, neither initiate nor consider ex parte or other communications concerning a pending or impending proceeding. Magisterial district judges, however, may obtain the advice of a disinterested expert on the law applicable to a proceeding before them if they give notice to the parties of the person consulted and the substance of the advice and afford the parties reasonable opportunities to respond.

   Official Note

   This rule is derived from Canon 3A(1)-(4) of the American Bar Association and Pennsylvania Supreme Court Code of Judicial Conduct. Magisterial district judges are to be provided with the judicial robes required by subdivision B as part of the expense of operating their offices (See Rule 101(3)). The proscription against communications in subdivision D includes communications from lawyers, law teachers and other persons who are not participants in the proceeding, except to the limited extent permitted. It does not preclude magisterial district judges from consulting with other members of the judiciary or with court personnel whose function it is to aid the judiciary in carrying out adjudicative responsibilities.

   The provisions of this Rule 4 amended through November 21, 1975, 5 Pa.B. 3020. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (15338) to (15339).