PPLR

Print and Online for Free

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

Appellate Reports

• Commonwealth

• Superior

• State

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

Print

Online• PA Supreme Court Briefs

• HeinOnline (with FastCase)

• LLMC

• Loislaw