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Pennsylvania Case Reporters• Appellate Reports
Commonwealth, Superior, Supreme – published in
official case reporters, in West’s Atlantic Reporter, or on
the internet
• Side Reports
Various county reporters publishing trial decisions from
the Courts of Common Pleas, District and County,
Administrative Agencies, Topical Reports, and
Miscellaneous Reporters
Established in 1970
Appeals for which the state is a party• Examples: Worker’s Compensation,
Unemployment Compensation
No advance sheets
Discontinued in print in 1995• Last volume is 168
Available online from 1997 – present on
Unified Judicial System of PA website
Both criminal and civil appealsFirst published in 1895No advance sheetsDiscontinued in print in 1997
• Last volume is 456
Left Atlantic Reporter as only comprehensive print source for these decisions
Available online from 1998 – present on Unified Judicial System of PA website
First 52 volumes are nominative – cited by the name of the person who compiled the reports
Several different publishers – West is currentNo advance sheets – but will appear two to
three months after the date of the decision in the Atlantic Reporter
Available online on Unified Judicial System of PA website
Not all counties
Selective trial level
decisions
Do publish weekly
advance sheets
Some availability
online on county
website or part of
local bar association
website
Changes in volume numbers between advance sheets and bound volumes
Shepard’s dropped coverage in 1970s
West stopped indexing in 1976 in the Pennsylvania Digest 2d• Still covers: Fiduciary Reporter District and County Reports
– most significant decisions from trial level courts
Vale Pennsylvania
Digest
West’s Pennsylvania
Digest 2d
•Uses topic and key number
system
•Appellate and Side Reports
•Published beginning 1980s
•Uses topic and key number system;
Descriptive Word Index, Words and
Phrases, Table of Cases
•Appellate 1938 – present
•Side Reports 1938 – 1976
•District and County Reports
•Fiduciary Reporter
Each issue summarizes
recent trial and
appellate decisions
January and July has
6 month index
• Still have to go to each
issue to get reporter
citation
• Copy service for a fee
Best for Landlord
Tenant cases
Regional case law reporter; part of National Reporter System
Select opinions of Supreme Courts and lower appellate courts:
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• DC
• Maine
• Maryland
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Vermont A = 1895 to 1938 A2d = 1939 to 2010 A3d = 2010 to present
Large academic or county law libraries
State library
Microfilm or CD-ROM
Jenkins Law Library
Widener Law Library
Casemaker
Google Scholar
Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania• http://www.pacourts.us/
County websites
Local Bar Associations
Constitution
Session Laws
Statutes / Codifications
Administrative Decisions
Attorney General Opinions
Annotated in Purdon’s
Constitutions of Pennsylvania published in
1967
Debates of conventions in multi-volume
sets
Online from Duquesne University of Law
Chronological order by date of passage
18th and 19th century referred to as Smith’s or Dallas’ Laws
Subject index Bill numbers Includes:
• Appropriation Acts
• Veto Messages• Reorganization Plans
Limited online at Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau
Process of creating consolidated statutory code is ongoing
Pa Consolidated Statutes came about in the late 1960s
Purdon’s arrangement did not suit, new arrangement proposed
West agreed to republish Purdon’s reflecting the change
Only 2/3 have been republished
Purdon’s is a hybrid, reflecting two different
organizational schemes
Several instances where two different
statutes share same title number, one
consolidated, one Purdon’s
Two volume index with Popular Names Table
Updated by pocket part supplements• New statutes,
amendments, notices of repealed statutes, annotations
Legislative Service pamphlets
Cumulative Interim Update
Cases from 1970s or older cite titles 12,
17, and 19• In late 1970s those titles were repealed and
material recodified in title 42
Renumbering of sections in a given title• To go from old to new – use Disposition Table
(front of hardbound volumes, or beginning of
chapter, first volume)
• Master Disposition Table
Convert session law into Purdon’s citation• Use volumes labeled Tables
• Look up session law by date; then locate the page
or PL number where the statute begins
• Each section will have corresponding Purdon’s
citation
Index “Words and Phrases” list every term
defined by a statute in Purdon’s
Index of Popular Names of statutes
Very few PA agencies publish their decisionsThose that do:
• Public Utilities Commission• Environmental Hearing Board• Department of Education (teacher tenure and special
ed)• Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board• Workmen’s Compensation Board of Appeals• Liquor Control Board • Ethics Commission • Securities
Irregular publication by the Justice
Department from 1887
Most recent volume ends at 1992
Found in PA Bulletin
Some availability online at the Attorney
General’s website
Unofficial Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes West• http://government.westlaw.com/linkedslice/default.asp?SP=pac-1000
• Note: These are the unofficial, unannotated version of the complete set of Purdon's Statutes.
Pennsylvania’s consolidated statues on the website of the Pennsylvania General Assembly
• http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/Public/cons_index.cfm
• Browse by title, PDF, word, or HTML formats
• Note: These are the official, unannotated version of the Consolidated Statutes.
Duquesne University of Law PA Legislative Bureau PUC EHB Department of Education PA Labor Relations Board Workemen’s Compensation Board of Appeals Liquor Control Board PA State Ethics Commission PA Department of Banking and Securities Attorney General PA Bulletin