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.
3,241 laws of the 1840s
Constitution of 1838
To open Scheetz's street, in the district of Southwark, in the county of Philadelphia
Act 203 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing court of quarter sessions of Beaver county, to vacate certain streets and alleys in the plan of lots laid out by Stephen Stone, in said county
Act 204 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To prevent the continuance of liens in the county of Sullivan, by the revival of judgments in the county of Lycoming
Act 205 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the First Welch Independent Congregational church, in Pike township, Bradford county
Act 206 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To annul the marriage contract between Justus Osborn, and Parthenia, his wife
Act 207 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the trustees of the New School Presbyterian congregation of Hublersburg, Centre county, to sell certain real estate, and the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church, Clarksville, Mercer county, to sell certain real estate
Act 208 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relative to the courts of Wayne county
Act 209 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to encourage the further development of the mineral resources of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania - repeal
Act 210 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To open and extend Ann street, in the borough of Petersburg, in the county of Perry
Act 211 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relative to the records of the district court of the city and county of Lancaster, and for other purposes
Act 212 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Vesting in the burgess and town council of the borough of Erie, and their successors, in the county of Erie, the title to a certain tract of land, providing for the election of auditors in the borough of Erie, and changing the place of holding elections i
Act 213 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To regulate and grade the footways in the Upper ward, Germantown, and relative to the Strattonville and Freeport turnpike road company
Act 214 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Appointing commissioners to run and mark the division line between Lycoming and Tioga, and Blair and Cambria counties, and relative to fixing the corner of Indiana, Cambria and Clearfield, Berks and Schuylkill counties
Act 215 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relating to certain justice dockets, and treasury records in Warren county
Act 216 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Philadelphia and Wilkesbarre telegraph company
Act 217 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act authorizing the faculty of Pennsylvania college to confer the degree of doctor of medicine - amend - corporators; raise money by loan; powers; privileges
Act 218 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relative to real estate
Act 219 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
For the relief of Ann Merklin, of the county of Lancaster
Act 220 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Carbon County Council, number sixty-five, of the order of United American Mechanics, of the state of Pennsylvania, located at Mauch Chunk
Act 221 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Odd Fellow' hall association of the borough of Norristown, and county of Montgomery
Act 222 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the town of Rochester, in the county of Beaver, into a borough
Act 223 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relative to the estate of Daniel Reiley, deceased
Act 224 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Phoenix hose company of Philadelphia
Act 225 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize the governor to incorporate the Saint Mary and Erie plank road company
Act 227 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate a company to build a turnpike or plank road from Warren, in Warren county, to Franklin, in Venango county
Act 228 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Erie and Waterford plank road company
Act 229 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Meadville, Klecknerville and Edinboro' plank road company
Act 230 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Erie and Wattsburg plank road company
Act 231 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Erie and Edinboro' plank road company
Act 232 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Meadville, Cambridge and Waterford plank road company
Act 233 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Allegheny and Perrysville turnpike road company
Act 234 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Mount Vernon turnpike road company, of Luzerne and Wayne counties, and relative to the election of judges and officers of turnpike and bridge companies
Act 235 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To construct a turnpike road from Columbia to Marietta, in Lancaster county
Act 236 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Wattsburg and Warren plank road company
Act 237 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the president and managers of the Strattonville and Freeport turnpike road company
Act 238 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Tionesta plank road company
Act 239 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the president and managers of the Spruce Creek and Phillipsburg turnpike road company
Act 240 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Montrose and railroad plank road company
Act 241 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Meadville and Franklin plank road company
Act 242 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Meadville, Allegheny and Brokenstraw plank road company
Act 243 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Butler and Mercer plank road company
Act 244 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the president and managers of the Susquehanna and Bald Eagle plank road company
Act 245 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize the governor to incorporate the Towanda Creek plank road company
Act 246 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the president and managers of the Tunkhannock Creek turnpike road company
Act 247 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Indian Orchard and Lackawaxen turnpike road company
Act 248 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Union turnpike road company of Wyoming and Luzerne counties
Act 249 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To extend the charter of the Commercial Bank of Pennsylvania
Act 250 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To reduce the capital of the Girard Bank
Act 251 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relating to the real estate of the late Mary Elizabeth Bache and Daniel Hoffman
Act 252 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To exempt the poor house of the city of Allegheny from taxation; relative to the salary of the directors of the poor of York county; and to regulate the settlement of paupers in Delaware county
Act 253 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize the auditor general to settle the accounts of Joseph K. Saeger, and to authorize John Foresman to institute a suit against Lycoming county
Act 254 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the congregation of Saint Vincent de Paul, in West Philadelphia
Act 255 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Limekiln turnpike road company
Act 256 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To extend the charter of the Bank of the Northern Liberties
Act 257 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Tunkhannock Creek turnpike road company
Act 258 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relative to Amber, Camac, and Broad streets, in the county of Philadelphia; authorizing the trustees of the Sepviva estate, to pay claims for building bridges; extending the annual appropriation to the agricultural society of Philadelphia, and relating to
Act 259 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To confirm to Jonathan Ashton the title to certain real estate; confirming the title to real estate in Cumberland county, and authorizing Joseph Buckwalter, to sell a certain school house and lot in Chester county
Act 260 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing Mordecai R. Moore, Thomas F. Shewell, Charles Weiss, Samuel J. Work, and William W. Work, George Chorpenning, guardian of the minor children of William Fayman, Joseph Horner, committee of William Horner, Joseph Godfrey and Michael Reed, to
Act 261 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
For the protection of miners, mechanics and laborers in certain counties
Act 262 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act authorizing the governor to incorporate the Shippensville and Emlenton turnpike road company - amend - charter extended; commissioners
Act 263 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act authorizing the laying out of certain state roads, and for other purposes - amend - privileges and immunities declared perpetual; appointment of commissioners
Act 264 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act incorporating the Presbyterian congregation of the Associate Reformed church, in the borough of Butler, in the county of Butler - amend - trustees; term of service
Act 265 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Declaratory of the fourth section of an act supplementary to the charter of the Pennsylvania railroad company, approved March 27, 1848
Act 266 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to incorporate the city of Allegheny - amend - regulating streets in the city of Pittsburg, and authorize the town council of Monongahela City, in Washington county, to collect wharfage
Act 267 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
For the relief of Samuel White
Act 268 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To annul the marriage contract between Reuben H. Haywood and Catherine, his wife; and supplementary to existing laws in relation to recording of deeds
Act 269 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the commissioners of the district of Southwark, in the county of Philadelphia, to erect water works
Act 270 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act for establishing a health office, and to secure the city and port of Philadelphia from the introduction of pestilential and contagious diseases, and for other purposes - amend - duties, powers, and division of board of health
Act 271 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act incorporating the Philadelphia and Reading railroad company - amend - time for extension of upper terminus extended
Act 272 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to authorize the governor to incorporate the Tioga and Elmira plank road company - amend - time for commencing and completing road extended
Act 273 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Submitting it to the people of Union and Northumberland counties, to vote by ballot for and against the erection of poor houses in said counties
Act 274 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to establish an academy at Brookville, in Jefferson county, and for other purposes - amend - number of the trustees that constitute a quorum
Act 275 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to incorporate Delaware County insurance company - amend - affairs of company to be managed by 28 directors; invest capital stock in loans
Act 276 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to authorize the governor to incorporate a company to erect a toll bridge over the river Susquehanna, at the village of Tunkhannock - amend - annual meeting for choosing officers; notice; fines; tolls
Act 277 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to authorize any person or persons owning lands adjoining navigable streams of water declared public highways, to erect dams upon such streams for mills and other water works - repeal - as it includes the Clarion river
Act 278 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize the canal commissioners to remove lock house, number fifty-four, on the Western division of the Pennsylvania canal
Act 279 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To provide for the erection of a house for the employment and support of the poor in the county of Westmoreland
Act 280 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act incorporating the Buckingham and Doylestown turnpike road company - amend - rate of tolls
Act 281 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Willow Street turnpike road company
Act 282 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To exempt certain certificates of loan from taxation for county and municipal purposes
Act 283 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize John H. Townsend and William Guthrie to construct a dam in the Kiskiminetas river; exempting the fire association of Philadelphia, and the Washington hall association of Bucks county, from taxation; and authorizing the Danborough and Point
Act 284 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Prohibiting persons from throwing slabs in Red Bank creek and its navigable tributaries, and to incorporate a company to re-build a toll bridge over the Allegheny river, at Emlenton, in Venango county
Act 285 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relating to the judicial districts of this commonwealth
Act 286 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To extend the charter of the Bank of Chester county
Act 287 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To extend the charter of the Columbia Bank and Bridge Company
Act 288 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Milford Cold Spring water company
Act 289 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To perpetuate evidence in certain cases therein named, and relative to taxing the Chartiers coal company
Act 290 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the paving of the Gray's Ferry road, from Cedar street to Federal street; providing for the construction of lateral railroads; relating to the appointment of auctioneers in the counties of Erie, Mercer and Bradford; extending the Southwark rai
Act 291 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate in Reserve township, Allegheny county, a borough, to be called the borough of Duquesne; to erect the town of Tarentum, in Allegheny county, into a separate election district; and to regulate the streets and public grounds in the borough of
Act 292 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To enable the president and managers of the Fox Chase and Huntingdon turnpike road company to borrow money on mortgage, and to legitimate Isabella B. Houpt, of Montgomery county
Act 293 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to incorporate the borough of Marietta, in the county of Lancaster - amend - relating to the collection of school taxes in Manor and Earl townships, Lancaster county, and relative to the election of a justice of the peace in the borough of Manheim, in
Act 294 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To appoint commissioners to re-locate a part of the Armstrong, Indiana and Cambria turnpike road, in the town of Elderton, Armstrong county; and relating to the state road leading from Brookville to Warren, in Warren county; and in relation to the opening
Act 295 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To prevent the opening of streets or public roads through burial grounds, and for the protection of cemeteries and grave yards
Act 296 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the West Middlesex plank road company, in the county of Mercer
Act 297 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Lackawanna institute, in the village of Carbondale, Luzerne county
Act 298 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Meadville and Conneautville plank road company
Act 299 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Perrysville and Zelienople turnpike or plank road company
Act 300 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to incorporate the Hazleton coal company - amend - charter extended 20 years; rate of toll
Act 301 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Hilltown turnpike road company
Act 302 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to enable the governor of this commonwealth to incorporate a company for making an artificial road by the best and nearest route from Berwick, on the North-east Branch of the Susquehanna, or from the mouth of the Wapehawley, to that point on the
Act 303 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
By decade
Constitution of 18741874–1967
Constitution of 17761776–1789
- 1780s 567
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.