1 Pa.C.S. § 1503

This is the official text of 1 Pa.C.S. § 1503, part of Pennsylvania’s Pa.C.S — part of the compiled statutory law of Pennsylvania, published by the state as "Pa.C.S." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Applicability of colonial law.

Official statutory text

(a) English law.--The common law and such of the statutes of England as were in force in the Province of Pennsylvania on May 14, 1776 and which were properly adapted to the circumstances of the inhabitants of this Commonwealth shall be

deemed to have been in force in this Commonwealth from and after February 10, 1777.

(b) Provincial statutes.--The statutes enacted on or before May 14, 1776 under the authority of the late Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania have the same validity and effect as statutes enacted under the authority of this Commonwealth.

(c) Exceptions.--The rules specified in subsections (a) and

(b) of this section shall not be applicable to any statute or law which:

(1) has been heretofore or is hereafter amended or repealed or which has expired by its own limitation;

(2) orders the taking or subscribing any oath, affirmation or declaration of allegiance or fidelity to the British crown;

(3) acknowledges any authority in the heirs or devisees of William Penn, Esq., deceased, the former Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, or any other person whomsoever as Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania; or

(4) is repugnant to the Constitution of this Commonwealth or of the United States.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.