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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

1,705 laws of the 1810s

Constitution of 1790

  1. A supplement to "An act to incorporate the Union Canal Company of Pennsylvania - amend - commissioners named; payment of instalments; proceeds of the lottery pledged; organise the company; number of officers; property vested in common; when interest shall

    Act 160 of 1819 · 1819 · Original text

  2. An act relative to the repairing of bridges and the collection of exempt fines in the city and county of Philadelphia

    Act 161 of 1819 · 1819 · Original text

  3. An act to regulate the compensation of the commissioners to alter the time of appointing the treasurer for the county of Philadelphia, and for other purposes

    Act 162 of 1819 · 1819 · Original text

  4. A further supplement to "An act to enable the Governor of this Commonwealth to incorporate a company for making an artificial road by the best and nearest route from Waterford, in the county of Erie, through Meadville and Franklin, to the river

    Act 163 of 1819 · 1819 · Original text

  5. An act appointing commissioners for exploring a route for opening a direct communication from the town of Millford, in the county of Pike, to the borough of Wilkesbarre, in the county of Luzerne

    Act 164 of 1819 · 1819 · 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.