Sigma Nu Phi (), also known as Adelphia Sigma Nu Phi, was a professional law fraternity and a member of the Professional Fraternity Association.

History
Adelphia Sigma Nu Phi was founded in 1903 by students and faculty of National University School of Law in Washington, D.C. Its founders wanted to create a Greek letter law fraternity for men that would be a modern version of the English Order of the Coif. The fraternity was incorporated in the District of Columbia on February 12, 1903. Its founders and incoporators were :

Eugene Carusi was dean of the School of Law and Charles Carusi and Richard Shipp were faculty members.

The purpose of Sigma Nu Phi was to improve legal education, promote professional ethics and culture, and establish a bond of brotherhood. The fraternity selected a seal, insignia, and design for a ring in February 1903, entering these with the Librarian of Congress. Its membership was limited to students, alumni, and faculty of law schools. The fraternity's member types or degrees were apprentice, sergeant, and magistrate. Members of other fraternities were not eligible to join Sigma Nu Phi. 

Soon after it was chartered, the fraternity had applications for chapters at Columbian University, Georgetown University, Indianapolis College of Law, Tulane University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Pennsylvania. It had six chapters by the end of January 1904. In May 1906, the Alpha chapter moved into its chapter house on 1016 Thirteenth Street Northwest.  

Sometime after 1911, the Alpha chapter declined and went inactive. It was revived in February 1915 with the aid of faculty who were fraternity members. New members were initated into the Alpha chapter in March. Members and alumni celebrated the chapter's revival at a function held in April 1915. 

In December 1915, the Alpha chapter began discussing acquiring a new chapter house. Plans were also underway to establish chapters at Georgetown University Law School  and George Washington University Law School; the former had a chapter previously that went dormant. The Washington, D.C. Alumni chapter held a joint organizational meeting on March 20, 1916. 

Sigma Nu Phi was one of the chartering fraternities of the  Professional Interfraternity Conference in 1928 and its president Major Jarvis Butler served as its first president.

In 1953, the fraternity had 24 chapters. However, there were only five active chapters in 1963. Sigma Nu Phi merged into Delta Theta Phi (ΔΘΦ) in 1989. Delta Theta Phi accepted all Sigma Nu Phi members and took over publishing The Adelphia Law Journal.

Symbols
Sigma Nu Phi's colors were purple and gold. Its banner was made of purple and old rose silk. Its flower was the white carnation. Its jewels were the sapphire and the diamond. Its symbols were the axe, the key, and the owl.   

The Sigma Nu Phi crest includes a cluster of three carnations, an Arabian lamp, an open book, and a crossed battle axe and key, flanked on both sides by an owl and surrounded by a legal scroll. The Sigma Nu Phi coat of arms was designed by Balfour and Company and adopted by the fraternity in 1921. It incorporated the symbols of the fraternity's great seal.

When it was first established, Sigma Nu Phi members wore a ring instead of a badge. It was a gold signet ring, featuring the fraternity's crest with an owl on either side. The ring had three sapphires, representing the three classes or degrees of members, and four diamonds, representing the fraternity's four declarations. A similar watch seal was also designed.

Members wore purple gowns, based on judicial robes, with an old rose and gold girdle. The right sleeve was decorated with the fraternity's crest and the left sleeve indicated the wearer's membership degree.

The fraternity's badge was a circle of purple enamel with the Greek letters  above a lamp; it was encircled by pearls and featured an owl perched on an open book at the top of the circle. Before 1921, some chapters had a pin or guard that consisted of its Greek letter, surrounded in pearls, that was worn attached to the badge. However, the fraternity stated that these were forbidden in November 1921. A  variant without the pearls was issued by the fraternity in 1934. 

The Sigma Nu Phi pledge button was a gold owl that had jeweled eyes that was worn on the left lapel. Pledge pins were loaned to pledges and returned to the chapter after the brother's initiation.In addition, the fraternity had a recognition button that was a replica of its coat of arms. It also issued a scholarship key to the members of each chapter with the highest grade point average in their class. 

In March 2015, the Alpha chapter's initiation included marching the initiates down H Street to Fourteenth Street, and onto New York Avenue in what one newspaper called "a parade in grotesque" costumes". The initiation also included a slapstick, a seizer bottle, and an electric battery.

Publications
The fraternity started publishing a newspaper, The Declaration, in late February 1903. In 1916, Sigma Nu Phi started publishing The Owl magazine quarterly. It also published The Adelphia on an irregular basis starting in 1925; in 1981, it became The Adelphia Law Journal, an authoritatively recognized law review. The fraternity also published a seven members directories between 1916 and 1956.

Chapter house
The original Alpha chapter house was locatied at 1016 Thirteenth Street Northwest. It was built in the 1870s for David Kellogg Cartter, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, and was later the home of Senator William Alexander Harris. It was three blocks from the National Law School buidilng. Its lower level of the chapter house was decorted with hand-carved black walnut and included reading rooms, clubrooms, and space for programs and social events. The upper floors were used as a residence for students of the National University Law School.

In March 1921, Alpha chapter had a newly furnished chapter house at 1654 Columbia Road. In May 1923, it moved to a new chapter house at 1752 N Street Northwest.

Governance
Chapter officers were called chancellor, first vice-chancellor, second vice-chancellor, master of rolls, registrar, and crier. Nationally, Sigma Nu Phi was governed by a high court of chancery which met annually, and an elected executive council. 

Its headquarters was originally located in Washington, D.C., and later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Chapters

Collegiate chapters 
The Sigma Nu Phi collegiate chapters were named for distinguished lawyers, in addition to having Greek letter names. Following is a list of known collegiate chapters.

Alumni chapters 
Following is a list of known Sigma Nu Phi alumni chapters.

Notable members

 Richard H. Alvey (Alpha Honorary), chief judge of the Supreme Court of Maryland and chief justice of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia
 James M. Beck (Honorary), U.S. Solicitor General and U.S. House of Representatives
 Theodore M. Brantley (Delta First, Honorary), Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court
 Theodore Brentano (Alpha Honorary), attorney, judge, and U.S. ambassador to Hungary
 Joseph H. Choate (Beta Honorary), United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
 George B. Davis (Alpha Honorary), Judge Advocate General of the United States Army
 Herbert J. Drane (Honorary), U.S. House of Representatives
 Duncan U. Fletcher (Honorary), U.S. Senator
 Melville Fuller (Alpha Honorary), Chief Justice of the  U.S. Supreme Court
 George Gray (Alpha Honorary),  United States Senator and a United States circuit judge
 Oliver Wendell Holmes (Alpha Honorary), U.S. Supreme Court justice
 Charles Evans Hughes (Beta Honorary), Chief Justice of the  U.S. Supreme Court
 Frank E. Irvine (Alpha Honorary), federal judge and dean of Cornell Law School
 Calvin Ira Kephart, lawyer and hearing examiner with the Interstate Commerce Commission and law professor at George Washington University
 John W. Kern (Indiana Alpha), United States Senator
 Arthur J. Lacy (Gamma Honorary), attorney, judge, professor, and mayor of Clare, Michigan
 Paul Lessinoff (Honorary), Bulgarian Chargé d'affaires to the United States
 Oscar Raymond Luhring (Honorary), U.S. House of Representatives and Associate Justice of the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia.
 David J. Mays (Zeta), lawyer and writer
 Samuel McGowan (Honorary), Rear Admiral and Paymaster General of the United States Navy
 Frank S. Monnett (Alpha Honorary),  Ohio Attorney General
 Abram F. Myers (Beta), chair of the Federal Trade Commission
 Samuel J. Nicholls (Beta Honorary), U.S. House of Representatives
 Samuel W. Pennypacker (Alpha Honorary), Governor of Pennsylvania
 Theodore Roosevelt (Alpha Honorary), President of the United States
 George Shiras Jr. (Alpha Honorary), U.S. Supreme Court justice
 Frederick Lincoln Siddons (Alpha), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia
 John R. Saunders (Zeta Honorary), Attorney General of Virginia and Senate of Virginia
 William Howard Taft, President of the United States
 Hannis Taylor (Beta Honorary), United States Ambassador to Spain
 David I. Walsh (Beta Honorary), Governor of Massachusetts and  United States Senate
 David K. Watson (Alpha Honorary), U.S. House of Representatives and Ohio Attorney General
 Edward Douglas White (Beta Honorary), Chief Justice of the  U.S. Supreme Court

Notes

References

Defunct fraternities and sororities
Student organizations established in 1903
1903 establishments in Washington, D.C.
Former members of Professional Fraternity Association