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The 1776 Philadelphia ConstitutionThe laws of the land, set down plainly — and put to the people, one provision at a time.

The Pennsylvania Register

Every law Pennsylvania has passed

55,382 acts of the General Assembly, from William Penn’s first assembly in 1682 to 2026. Until 1874 much of the Assembly’s work was “special” legislation for a single person, company or town: a divorce, a road, a tavern license. That year’s constitution barred local and special laws on most subjects, and the yearly count fell; lately it is about 150.

Not yet complete · The state has not yet digitized its session laws act by act for most years between 1851 and 1949. We filled what we could from scans of the printed volumes: every year from 1851 to 1875 and most sessions from 1877 to 1907. A computer read those titles, so they can contain misspellings, and a few acts in each year were missed. Most years from 1909 to 1949 are still thin (marked below). Every other year is complete, from 1682 through 1850 and from 1950 to today.

Clear

26 laws of the 1740s

Province of Pennsylvania

  1. Imposing a duty on persons convicted of heinous crimes brought into this province and not warranted by the laws of Great Britain and to prevent poor and impotent persons being imported into the same

    Ch. 354 · 4 Pa. Stat. at Large 360 · 1743 · Original text

  2. More easy and speedy recovery of small debts

    Ch. 355 · 4 Pa. Stat. at Large 370 · 1743 · Original text

  3. Continuing and amending the act of assembly entitled "A supplement to the act for electing members of assembly," etc.

    Ch. 356 · 4 Pa. Stat. at Large 375 · 1743 · Original text

  4. Vesting the Province Island and the buildings thereon erected and to be erected in trustees for providing a hospital for such sick passengers as shall be imported into this province and prevent the spreading of infectious distempers

    Ch. 357 · 4 Pa. Stat. at Large 382 · 1743 · Original text

  5. More easy recovery of legacies within this province

    Ch. 358 · 4 Pa. Stat. at Large 388 · 1743 · Original text

  6. Naturalizing such foreign Protestants as are settled or shall settle within this province who, not being of the people called Quakers, do conscientiously refuse the taking of any oath

    Ch. 359 · 4 Pa. Stat. at Large 391 · 1743 · Original text

  7. Speedy trial of capital offenses committed by any Indian or Indians in the remote parts of the province

    Ch. 362 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 5 · 1744 · Original text

  8. Laying an excise on wine, rum, brandy and other spirits

    Ch. 360 · 4 Pa. Stat. at Large 395 · 1744 · Original text

  9. New appointment of trustees of the general loan office of Pennsylvania and making current 10,000 pounds in new bills of credit to exchange such of those now by law current as are torn and defaced

    Ch. 361 · 4 Pa. Stat. at Large 407 · 1744 · Original text

  10. Re-emitting and continuing the loan of the bills of credit of this province

    Ch. 363 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 7 · 1746 · Original text

  11. Amending the several acts for electing members of assembly

    Ch. 364 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 16 · 1746 · Original text

  12. More easy and speedy recovery of small debts

    Ch. 365 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 22 · 1746 · Original text

  13. Supplement to the act entitled "An act for erecting houses of correction and work houses in the respective counties" and to the act entitled "An act to enable Jeremiah Langhorne, etc. to build a court house in the county of Bucks."

    Ch. 366 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 28 · 1746 · Original text

  14. Erecting of a house of correction and work house in the borough of Bristol in the county of Bucks and raising of money on the inhabitants of the said borough for the public use and benefit thereof

    Ch. 367 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 31 · 1746 · Original text

  15. Supplementary to the act entitled "An act for preventing the exportation of bread and flour not merchantable."

    Ch. 368 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 38 · 1746 · Original text

  16. More effectual suppressing profane cursing and swearing

    Ch. 369 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 42 · 1746 · Original text

  17. Granting 5,000 pounds to the King's use out of the bills of credit now remaining in the hands of the trustees of the general loan office, for exchanging torn and ragged bills and for striking the like sum to replace in their hands

    Ch. 370 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 45 · 1746 · Original text

  18. Supplement to the act entitled "An act for imposing a duty on persons convicted of heinous crimes," etc.

    Ch. 371 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 50 · 1746 · Original text

  19. Continuance of an act entitled "An act for the better securing the city of Philadelphia from the danger of gunpowder."

    Ch. 372 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 52 · 1747 · Original text

  20. New appointment of trustees of the general loan office of Pennsylvania and for the making current 5,000 pounds in new bills of credit to exchange such of those now by law current as are torn and defaced

    Ch. 373 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 54 · 1749 · Original text

  21. Amending the laws relating to the partition and distribution of intestates' estates

    Ch. 374 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 62 · 1749 · Original text

  22. Regulate horse-jockeys and dealers in horses and to prevent the bringing into this province for sale such as are small, unsizable or unsound

    Ch. 375 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 65 · 1749 · Original text

  23. Encourage the killing of squirrels within this province

    Ch. 376 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 68 · 1749 · Original text

  24. Erecting part of the province of Pennsylvania westward of Susquehanna and southeastward of the South Mountain, into a county (named York)

    Ch. 377 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 70 · 1749 · Original text

  25. Supplement to the act entitled "An act for imposing a duty on persons convicted of heinous crimes and to prevent poor and impotent persons being imported into this province."

    Ch. 378 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 77 · 1749 · Original text

  26. Amending the laws relating to the poor

    Ch. 379 · 5 Pa. Stat. at Large 79 · 1749 · Original text

By decade

Constitution of 19681968–today

Constitution of 18741874–1967

Constitution of 18381838–1873

Constitution of 17901790–1837

Constitution of 17761776–1789

Province of Pennsylvania1682–1775

1682–1801: the Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania. 1802–1974: the Pamphlet Laws (Laws of the General Assembly). Both from the scans published by the Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau, which link to each original page. 1975 onward: the General Assembly’s own record of legislation enacted, which adds approval dates and bill numbers. Years the Bureau hasn’t indexed act by act come from the annual Laws of the General Assembly as scanned by the Internet Archive and Google Books: we split each volume into acts by their approval lines, and each one links to its scanned page. Before 1975 each year’s appropriation acts were scanned as one bundle, so they aren’t listed one by one. Proposed constitutional amendments, vetoed bills and reorganization plans are left out. Subject lines are the Bureau’s and the General Assembly’s, not the laws’ full titles.