Court Opinion

ID: 9747507
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:18:40.624764+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:24.182839
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Roberts:
While I join in the opinion of the Court, I must additionally note my strong disapproval of the actions of the orphans’ court judge in sitting in a case in which he had a direct pecuniary interest. Canon 29 of the American Bar Association’s Canons of Judicial Ethics provides that “[a] judge should abstain from performing or taking part in any judicial act in which his personal interests are involved.” See also the Interim Report of the American Bar Association’s Special Committee on Standards of Judicial Conduct, which concluded that “[a] judge should disqualify himself in any proceeding in his court in which he knows or should know that he, individually or as a fiduciary, or any member of his family residing in his household, has an interest in the matter in controversy or the affairs of a party to the proceeding.” I also expressly disapprove of the actions of the Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans’ Court in retaining his position as administrator of the estate after his accession to these positions.