The

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory and case law. The '' Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes'' form the general statutory law.

Sources

The Constitution of Pennsylvania is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, published in the '' Laws of Pennsylvania'', and codified in the '' Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes''. State agency regulations (sometimes called administrative law) are published in the '' Pennsylvania Bulletin'' and codified in the '' Pennsylvania Code''. Pennsylvania's legal system is based on

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court, which are published in the '' Pennsylvania State Reports'' and the ''Pennsylvania Reporter''. Municipalities may also promulgate

local ordinance A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like. Hong Kong In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () ...

s. In addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law.

Constitution

The organic source of state law is the Constitution of Pennsylvania. Although the original Constitution of Pennsylvania was ratified in 1776, more than ten years before the Constitution of the United States, the U.S. Constitution has legal supremacy in matters relating to (or, ''in pursuance thereof...'') powers delegated to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution. The people of the States are supreme and sovereign in the constitutional U.S. system. The people of the States created the federal government and delegated to it a few enumerated powers to which it is properly limited. The current Pennsylvania Constitution dates from 1968.

Legislation

Pursuant to the state constitution, the Pennsylvania General Assembly has enacted various laws, known as " slip laws". These are published in the official '' Laws of Pennsylvania'', also known as the "Pamphlet Laws" or generically as " session laws". Pennsylvania is currently undertaking its first official codification process in the '' Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes''. They are published by the Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau (PALRB or LRB). There are also several unofficial sources for statutes. The old, unofficial codification is '' Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes'', which is also being updated in line with the new codification as ''Purdon's Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Annotated''. In addition, there are several historic sources of session laws. The '' Pennsylvania Statutes at Large'' contain charters, laws in force and obsolete laws from 1682 through 1809; publication began in 1896 and are being digitized by the LRB. '' Smith's Laws'' contain public laws in force from 1700 through 1829, and were published prior to the Statutes at Large, beginning in 1810.

Regulations

Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgated bodies of

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

s (sometimes called

administrative law Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regul ...

). The regulations are codified in the '' Pennsylvania Code'' (Pa. Code). The '' Pennsylvania Bulletin'' is the weekly

gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

containing proposed, enacted and emergency rules and other notices and important documents. Changes in the ''Pennsylvania Code'' are made via the ''Pennsylvania Code Reporter'', a monthly loose-leaf supplement. They are compiled, edited and supplemented by the Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau.

Case law

The legal system of Pennsylvania is based on the

of England, and Pennsylvania has a

reception statute A reception statute is a statutory law adopted as a former British colony becomes independent by which the new nation adopts, or receives, the English common law (and in some cases the statute law) before its independence to the extent not explicit ...

providing for the "reception" of

English law English law is the common law list of national legal systems, legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly English criminal law, criminal law and Civil law (common law), civil law, each branch having its own Courts of England and Wales, ...

. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...

. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Pennsylvania have developed a large body of

case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is a law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of ...

through the decisions of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

, and Commonwealth Court. The official

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for the Supreme Court is the '' Pennsylvania State Reports'' since 1845. There are no official reporters for either the Superior Court or the Commonwealth Court, but the ''Pennsylvania Reporter'' (a Pennsylvania-specific version of the '' Atlantic Reporter'') is an unofficial reporter. There is no official reporting of decisions of trial courts, but County Court (Common Pleas Court) opinions are selectively published in the ''Pennsylvania District and County Reports'' (Pa. D.&C.). Many counties also publish their own reporters which contain select trial court opinions for that county. Estate and trusts trial cases are published in the ''Fiduciary Reporter'', and local government cases (both trial and appellate) are published in ''Chrostwaite's Pennsylvania Municipal Law Reporter''. The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts also posts opinions from the Supreme Court (from November 1996), Superior Court (from December 1997), and Commonwealth Court (from January 1997) on its website. Superior Court opinions were published in the '' Pennsylvania Superior Court Reports'' from 1895 to 1997, and Commonwealth Court opinions were published in the '' Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Reports'' from 1970 to 1995.

Local ordinances

Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances title page

Municipalities may enact and enforce

References

External links

Consolidated Statutes of Pennsylvania
from the Pennsylvania General Assembly
Unconsolidated Statutes of Pennsylvania
from the Pennsylvania General Assembly
Pennsylvania Code
from the Pennsylvania General Assembly
Pennsylvania Code
from pacode.com
Pennsylvania Bulletin
from pabulletin.com
Supreme Court opinions
from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts
Superior Court opinions
from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts
Commonwealth Court opinions
from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts
Local ordinance codes
from Public.Resource.Org * Case law: {{Authority control