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PENNSYLVANIA RESEARCH
Pennsylvania Case Law Search: Plain-English Pennsylvania Case Law Research With Cited, On-Point Opinions
Ask a Pennsylvania question the way you would ask a colleague, and get back Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court opinions with the holding in plain language and a still-good-law signal.
Last updated July 2026 · US firms · Research tool, not legal advice
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Controlling statute
The controlling statute is surfaced alongside the case law so you read the code and the precedents together.
Plain-English answer
Research memo
- Question
- Short answer
- Authorities
Casesearch shows you the sources. Always read the full opinion and verify citations before you rely on them.
The short answer
Pennsylvania case law search means finding the opinions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the two intermediate appellate courts, the Superior Court and the Commonwealth Court, that control your issue. Which intermediate court you read depends on the subject: the Superior Court hears most civil and criminal appeals, while the Commonwealth Court hears cases involving state and local government. Pennsylvania appellate opinions are cited to West's Atlantic Reporter, now in its third series (A.3d), because the official Pennsylvania State Reports and the separate Superior and Commonwealth Court reporters have been discontinued.
2
intermediate appellate courts split by subject matter
A.3d
the reporter for Pennsylvania appellate opinions
60
judicial districts with courts of common pleas
May 2019
Superior Court non-precedential decisions become citable
Side by side
Where Pennsylvania opinions are published, and what binds you
Pennsylvania is one of the few states with two separate intermediate appellate courts of equal rank. The one that controls your issue depends on the subject matter, not the county, so identifying the right court is the first step in a Pennsylvania search.
| Court | What it decides | Reporter | Precedential weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court of Pennsylvania | Discretionary allocatur, direct capital appeals, King's Bench matters | A.3d (Pa.) | Binding on every Pennsylvania court |
| Superior Court | Most civil and criminal appeals from the courts of common pleas | A.3d (Pa. Super.) | Published opinions bind the common pleas courts statewide |
| Commonwealth Court | Cases by or against the Commonwealth, local government, agencies, election and tax law | A.3d (Pa. Cmwlth.) | Published opinions bind on matters within its jurisdiction |
| Courts of common pleas, 60 districts | Trials, felonies, civil cases, family, orphans court | Not reported | No precedential value |
| Third Circuit and federal district courts | Federal questions and diversity cases applying Pennsylvania law | F.4th, F.Supp.3d | Persuasive only in state court on state law |
Casesearch is a research accelerator, not legal advice. Confirm the court and publication status before you cite.
How do I search Pennsylvania case law?
Start with the issue and the subject matter, because the subject decides which appellate court controls. Type the actual question with the posture in it: "can a Pennsylvania municipality deny a zoning variance for a home business under the MPC", not "zoning variance". Plain-English search reads the whole question and returns the opinions that answer it, and it steers a government question toward the Commonwealth Court and a private dispute toward the Superior Court.
Then read the right intermediate court. This is the trap that catches lawyers from other states, where a single intermediate court hears everything. In Pennsylvania a contract or criminal appeal goes to the Superior Court, while a case against a township, a tax assessment, or an election dispute goes to the Commonwealth Court, and the two courts do not bind each other. Reading a Superior Court opinion on a question that belongs to the Commonwealth Court can send you down the wrong line of authority entirely.
Describe the issue in a full sentence
Include the statute, the parties, and the procedural stage so the search has context.
Decide which appellate court controls
Government and agency questions go to the Commonwealth Court, most private disputes to the Superior Court.
Check publication status
A non-precedential memorandum is citable only for persuasive value, and only if recent enough.
Read the passage you will rely on
Summaries triage results. The opinion is what you cite.
What is the difference between the Superior Court and the Commonwealth Court?
They are two intermediate appellate courts of equal rank, divided by subject matter rather than geography. The Superior Court is the busier of the two and hears appeals in most civil and criminal cases that come up from the courts of common pleas: contracts, torts, family law, criminal convictions, and the like. The Commonwealth Court is the specialized court for government: cases brought by or against the Commonwealth, local agencies, and political subdivisions, plus tax assessment appeals, election law, and workers compensation appeals from the board.
Because they sit at the same level, a Superior Court opinion does not bind the Commonwealth Court and vice versa. Each is bound by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania above them, and each generally follows its own published opinions. When a question could plausibly land in either court, the classification of the case decides which body of precedent controls, so figuring out which court would hear the appeal is part of finding the right authority.
Superior Court
Most civil and criminal appeals from the courts of common pleas. Cited as A.3d (Pa. Super.).
Commonwealth Court
Government, agency, tax, election, and workers compensation matters. Cited as A.3d (Pa. Cmwlth.).
Neither binds the other
They are equal in rank; only the Supreme Court binds both.
En banc panels
A larger en banc panel of either court can overrule that court's own prior three-judge decisions.
Can you cite an unpublished Pennsylvania opinion?
It depends on the court and the date. For the Superior Court, a non-precedential memorandum decision filed on or after May 2, 2019 may be cited for its persuasive value under Pa.R.A.P. 126(b) and Superior Court Operating Procedure section 65.37. A memorandum filed before that date may not be cited or relied on, except in the narrow situations of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel, or where it recites the reasoning affecting the same defendant in a related criminal matter.
The Commonwealth Court has its own rule with an earlier cutoff. Under section 414 of that court's internal operating procedures, an unreported panel decision filed on or after January 15, 2008 may be cited for its persuasive value, not as binding precedent. Because each court uses a different date and a different rule, confirm which court issued the opinion and check the filing date before you rely on anything marked non-precedential or unreported.
How do I check whether a Pennsylvania case is still good law?
Three things can undo a Pennsylvania case. The Supreme Court can reverse or overrule an intermediate appellate decision after granting allocatur. The General Assembly can supersede a holding by amending the statute, which is common in areas like the Mechanics Lien Law, the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, and municipal zoning. Or the issuing court can recede from its own opinion, often through an en banc panel that overrules a prior three-judge decision.
A treatment signal answers the case-history side: has any later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled the opinion, and did the Supreme Court grant allocatur. The statutory side needs its own step, because a Pennsylvania opinion construing a statute the legislature rewrote can be sound about words that no longer exist. Read the current statutory text next to the case history whenever the holding turns on the language of the statute.
Where can I find Pennsylvania case law online?
The official opinions are free. The Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania posts Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court opinions on the state courts website, and CourtListener and Google Scholar carry the same opinions in A.3d with full-text search. What the free sources do not provide is a citator, a plain-language holding, or a quick read on whether an en banc panel receded from the case, so they work for pulling an opinion you already have a cite for and struggle when you need to find the controlling one across two intermediate courts.
The paid tier splits by how much library you need. Westlaw and Lexis carry the headnote systems and the KeyCite and Shepard's citators, and for deep Pennsylvania appellate work that treatment depth is hard to replace. For the everyday job, identifying whether the Superior or Commonwealth Court controls, finding the on-point published opinion, reading the holding, and confirming it still stands, a self-serve research tool covers the work at a fraction of a full seat. We compare the tiers in the legal research software guide.
Frequently asked
Questions buyers ask about pennsylvania case law search
How do I search Pennsylvania case law?
Describe your issue as a full question, including the statute and the procedural posture, then read the intermediate court that controls the subject. Send government, tax, and election questions to the Commonwealth Court and most private civil and criminal questions to the Superior Court, confirm the opinion is published or a citable non-precedential decision, and read the holding before you cite it.
What is the difference between the Superior and Commonwealth Courts?
They are Pennsylvania's two intermediate appellate courts, equal in rank but split by subject. The Superior Court hears most civil and criminal appeals from the courts of common pleas, while the Commonwealth Court hears cases involving state and local government, agencies, tax assessment, and election law. Neither binds the other, and only the Supreme Court binds both.
Can you cite an unpublished Pennsylvania opinion?
Sometimes, for persuasive value. A Superior Court non-precedential memorandum filed on or after May 2, 2019 may be cited under Pa.R.A.P. 126(b) and Operating Procedure 65.37, and a Commonwealth Court unreported panel decision filed on or after January 15, 2008 may be cited under its section 414. Neither is binding precedent, and earlier decisions face stricter limits.
What reporter does Pennsylvania use?
The Atlantic Reporter, now in its third series (A.3d), published by West. Pennsylvania discontinued the official Pennsylvania State Reports and the separate Superior and Commonwealth Court reporters, so a modern cite reads like 200 A.3d 1005 (Pa. Super. 2018), with the court shown in the parenthetical to tell Supreme, Superior, and Commonwealth Court opinions apart.
What are the trial courts in Pennsylvania called?
The courts of common pleas. Pennsylvania is organized into 60 judicial districts, most covering a single county, and the court of common pleas in each is the trial court of general jurisdiction for felonies, civil cases, family law, and orphans court matters. Its decisions are not reported and carry no precedential weight for other courts.
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Casesearch is a legal research tool, not legal advice. Always read the full opinion and verify citations before relying on them.
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Search Pennsylvania case law in plain English
Ask your Pennsylvania question and read the controlling Superior or Commonwealth Court opinions, the holdings, and the treatment signal for yourself. A research tool, not legal advice.