Pennsylvania Administrative Law Research: PA Code

The Pennsylvania Code is the Commonwealth’s administrative code, which arranges its administrative regulations into a single location, organized by subject. The Pennsylvania Code includes all of Pennsylvania’s current administrative regulations. The Code also includes state court rules and the home rule charters of Pennsylvania cities and counties.

The Pennsylvania Code is available in electronic and print formats. The Commonwealth posts a free version of the Code online. The Web site allows researchers to browse the Code using its table of contents. It also allows researchers to search the code using various field search features.

The Pennsylvania Code is also available in several subscription legal information databases, including Lexis and Westlaw. The subscription databases provide various search options. More importantly, the subscription databases provide links to cases and other documents that cite to the regulations.

The Commonwealth continues to publish a print version of the Pennsylvania Code, which is available in the LRC. The print version of the Code no longer includes an index.

Note: The Pennsylvania Code is sometimes confused with Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statutes. The Pennsylvania Code is the Commonwealth’s administrative code, and contains regulations created by Pennsylvania state agencies. Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statutes is the Commonwealth’s statutory code, and contains statutes passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.