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Pennsylvania Resources

This State Guide lists the major sources of law in Pennsylvania. Members of the Georgetown University community can seek additional assistance at the reference desk or online.

RESEARCH GUIDES

• Print:
  • Pennsylvania Legal Research (Barbara J. Busharis, Bonny L. Tavares) KFP 75 .B87 2007
  • Pennsylvania Legal Research Handbook (Frank Y. Liu, Joel Fishman) KFP75 .P47 2001
  • Pennsylvania State Documents: A Bibliography of Legal and Law-Related Material (Joel Fishman) KFP75 .F5 2002
• Internet: Pennsylvania Legal Research (University of Pittsburgh Law Library)
  

STATUTES & LEGISLATION

Constitution

• Lexis: PACNST
• Internet:
  • Pennsylvania Constitution (Pennsylvania General Assembly)
  • Pennsylvania Constitution Web Page (Duquesne University School of Law)

Statutes/Code

• Print:
  • Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes (official, 1975 - ) KFP30 1975 .A25
  • Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes, Annotated (unofficial, 1930 - ) KFP30 1930 .A4
    
• Electronic:
• Westlaw: PA-ST-ANN
• Lexis: PACODE
• Internet: Unofficial Purdon's Pennsylvania Statues from West

Legislative History

• Session Laws:
  • HeinOnline (1776 - )
  • Rutgers School of Law (1682 - 1999)
  • LLMC Digital (1897 - 2005) (Search by state in database)
  • Westlaw: PA-LEGIS (Current) & PA-LEGIS-OLD (1988 - 2008)
  • Lexis: PAARCH (1991 - )
    
• Pennsylvania: Compiling a Legislative History (Widener University Law Library)

Legislature

• Pennsylvania Bill Information (Pennsylvania General Assembly, includes bill text and bill histories, 1971 - )
• Pennsylvania General Assembly Home Page
  • House of Representatives Home Page
  • Senate Home Page

REGULATIONS & AGENCIES

Regulations

• Pennsylvania Administrative Code:
  • Print: KFP 35 1970 .A23 (1970 - 2008. Subscription cancelled)
  • Electronic:
    • Westlaw: PA-ADC
    • Lexis: PAADM
      
  • Internet: Pennsylvania code
• Pennsylvania Bulletin:
  • Westlaw: PA-ADR-OLD (2002 - 2010)
  • Lexis: PARGST (1994 - )
  • Internet: Pennsylvania Bulletin (1996 - )

Agencies

• Governor's Home Page
  • Executive Orders (1970- )
• Attorney General Opinions:
  • LLMC Digital (1887 - 1976) (Search by state in database)
  • Lexis: PAAG (1971 - )
• State Agencies

CASES & COURTS

Cases

• Print:
  • Atlantic Reporter (1st Series) KF135 .A7 (1886 - 1938)
  • Atlantic reporter. Second series KF135 .A712 (1938 - 1988)
  • West's Atlantic reporter. Second series KF135 .A712 (1939 - 2010)
  • West's Atlantic reporter. Third series KF135. A712 (2010 - )
    
  • Pennsylvania state reports, KFP45 .A2
    Note that Pennsylvania has a series of legal reporters for each county called "side reports."
    
• Electronic:
  • Westlaw: PA-CS (state cases) & PA-CS-ALL (state and federal cases)
    
  • Lexis: PACTS (state cases) & PAMEGA (state and federal cases)
• Internet: Pennsylvania Court Opinions (Supreme Court, 11/1996 - ;Superior Court, 12/1997 - ;Commonwealth Court,1997- )

Courts

• Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System
• Pennsylvania Court Rules (Jenkins Law Library)
• Pennsylvania Local Court Rules
• Short History of Pennsylvania's Courts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Pennsylvania Local Government
• Municipal codes (select):
  • E-code: Pennsylvania
  • Municode: Pennsylvania
  • Municipal Codes (Widener Law Library)

STATE LAW REVIEWS & BAR JOURNALS

• Legal Intelligencer
  • Microformat: KFP52.P48 P48 Micro (1987-1993)
    
    
• Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly
  • Print: K16 .E47 (1929 - 2003. Subscription cancelled).
  • Microformat: K16 .E47 Micro (1929 - )
  • Westlaw: PABAQ (Selected articles, 1986 - )
  • Lexis: PABAQ (1994 - )
    
• Pennsylvania Law Weekly
  • Print: K16 .E491 (1994 - 2008. Subscription cancelled)
  • Microformat: K16 .E486 Micro (1992-1994)
  • Legaltrac: (1994 - )
    

ETHICS

• Pennsylvania Bar Association
• Pennsylvania Bar Institute (continuing legal education arm of the Pennsylvania Bar Association)
• Rules of Professional Conduct and Ethics
• Westlaw: PAETH-CS (Pennsylvania Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility Cases) & PAETH-EO ( Pennsylvania Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility - Ethics Opinions, full coverage 1990 - December 2007)
• Lexis: PACTS (Ethics cases) & PAETH ( Pennsylvania State Case Law and Ethics Opinions)

GENERAL

• Pennsylvania Law Encyclopedia
  • Print: KFP65 .P4 1998 (2nd ed., 1998 - 2010. Subscription cancelled)
  • Lexis: PLE
    
• Summary of Pennsylvania Jurisprudence 2d
  • Print: KFP65 .S86 2d
  • Westlaw: PAJUR
    
• Print: Pennsylvania Keystone: Lawyer's Desk Library of Practice (1964 - ), KFP77 .L38
  
• Westlaw: West's Pennsylvania Practice Series TM PAPRAC
  
• Internet:
  • PA Legal Materials (Villanova University Law Library)
  • Pennsylvania Law (University of Pittsburgh Law Library)
  • Pennsylvania Resources (Widener University Law Library)
  • FindLaw: Pennsylvania
  • Law Library of Congress: Pennsylvania
  • Legal Information Institute: Pennsylvania
  • Tax Forms (From the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue)

Updated 6/2011 (JZ)
Updated 08/2010 (ET)
Updated 07/2009 (TMV)
07/2007 (SAS)
Links 08/08 (MMK)

 

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