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
Act authorizing the governor to incorporate the Liget's Gap railroad company - amend - tolls; purchase and hold lands; commence work at either end
Act 406 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To extend the charter of the Bank of Germantown
Act 407 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to extend the charter of the Western Bank of Philadelphia - amend - capital stock
Act 408 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To change the mode of granting tavern licenses in the city and county of Philadelphia
Act 409 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the partial restoration of the capital of the Bank of Pennsylvania
Act 410 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act incorporating the First Universalist society in the borough of Conneautville, in the county of Crawford; to declare certain creeks in Crawford and Jefferson counties public highways; to authorize the overseers of the poor in Sadsbury township; Crawfor
Act 411 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act relating to lunatics and habitual drunkards; to punish aldermen and justices of the peace for misdemeanors - amend - relating to arbitrations in the district court in the city and county of Philadelphia; relative to deeds of assignment; relative to ju
Act 412 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To revise the militia system, and provide for the training of such only as shall be uniformed
Act 413 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To annul the marriage contract between John Nicholson and Ellen Nicholson , his wife
Act 414 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To annul the marriage contract between John Nicholson and Ellen Nicholson , his wife
Act 415 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To restrain corporations from issuing obligations redeemable otherwise than in gold and silver, or in current bank notes
Act 416 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Milford and Matamoras railroad company
Act 417 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Milford and Matamoras railroad company
Act 418 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relating to judgments, and the acknowledgment of deeds, and sequestration of life estates, and relative to the high constable of the borough of Wilkesbarre
Act 419 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the commissioners of the incorporated districts of the Northern Liberties and Kensington, to open a street to be called Delaware avenue; relative to the duties of assessors; venders of mineral waters; the Fire association of Philadelphia; vaca
Act 420 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Act to authorize the governor to incorporate the Erie canal company - amend - rate of toll; interest on bonds due; construct lock or schute
Act 421 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Relating to certain bridges over the river Lehigh, near Catasauqua
Act 422 of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
For the incorporation of the German Lutheran church of Somerset township, Washington county
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize John Stevenson, guardian of William Inman, to execute a deed to the legal representatives of David Shaeffer, deceased, for certain real estate
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Matawana bridge company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Allegheny Evangelical Lutheran synod of Pennsylvania
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the society of the First Regular Baptist church of Lewistown, in the county of Mifflin, with the power to sell real estate
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Rome academy, in the county of Bradford
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Lehigh County mutual fire insurance company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Peach Bottom bridge company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate the Conestoga and Reading turnpike road company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To erect the village of Bridesburg, in the county of Philadelphia, into a borough
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Pottsville academy
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Blair County mutual fire insurance company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Chester County Horticultural society
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Lancaster and Marietta turnpike road company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the cemetery of the Methodist Episcopal church at Harrisburg
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Montgomery cemetery company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
Authorizing the governor to incorporate a company for making an artificial road over and upon the bed of the present road known as "School House lane,' running from the Germantown and Perkiomen turnpike to the Ridge turnpike
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize the governor to incorporate the Fredericksburg, Pinegrove, Friedensburg, and Schuylkill Haven turnpike road company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Columbia fire engine company, in the city of Philadelphia
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize the sale of real estate in Luzerne and Columbia counties; to authorize the erection of a new school district in Northumberland county, and to incorporate the Farmers' and Mechanics' mutual insurance company of Lancaster county
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize the governor to incorporate the Glen Hope and Little Bald Eagle turnpike road company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To incorporate the Ohio and Pennsylvania railroad company
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize the Western telegraph company to construct lines of telegraph wires through Pennsylvania, in a direction from Baltimore to the Ohio river
Resolution of 1849 · 1849 · Original text
To authorize the canal commissioners to sell and convey certain real estate upon the Franklin line of the Pennsylvania canal; to allow the Franklin canal company to construct a railroad; extending the time for settlement of claims on the Conneaut line, an
Resolution 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.