Pa. Cons. Stat. » 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. (JUDICIARY) / Chapter 5
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes

42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 502 (2026)

 General powers of Supreme Court.

✓ current as of May 2026 Cite as: 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 502 (2026)
Coverage note: this corpus holds the consolidated Pa.C.S. titles only. Unconsolidated P.S. statutes (UTPCPL 73 P.S. § 201-1, Liquor Code, wage payment laws) are not included; a miss here does not mean the statute does not exist. Check palegis.us.
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section PA-LEGpalegis.us JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

§ 502.  General powers of Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court shall have and exercise the powers vested in it by the Constitution of Pennsylvania, including the power generally to minister justice to all persons and to exercise the powers of the court, as fully and amply, to all intents and purposes, as the justices of the Court of King's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer, at Westminster, or any of them, could or might do on May 22, 1722. The Supreme Court shall also have and exercise the following powers:

(1)  All powers necessary or appropriate in aid of its original and appellate jurisdiction which are agreeable to the usages and principles of law.

(2)  The powers vested in it by statute, including the provisions of this title.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 44 cases (11 in the last 5 years), 1978–2026 · leading case: In re Bruno
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
In re Bruno (2014) pa · cites it 15× “V, § 10(a) (1968); 42 Pa.C.S. § 502). According to petitioners, when Article V, Section 10 was drafted in 1968, the power of the Supreme Court was, “at best, loosely defined in the area of judicial discipline.”
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board v. City Council of Philadelphia (2007) pa · cites it 4× “In addition to joining Justice Saylor's dissent concerning jurisdiction under the Act, I write separately to address the Majority Opinion's suggestion, in dicta, that this Court has independent authority to cancel the vote and interfere in the legislative process in Philadelphia…”
Philadelphia Entertainment & Development Partners, L.P. v. City of Philadelphia (2007) pa · cites it 4× “[3] PEDP also invokes this Court's jurisdiction under 42 Pa.C.S. § 502. See infra n. 8. [4] By order dated July 9, 2007, this Court ordered that this matter be submitted on briefs and granted PEDP's request for expedited consideration.”
Commonwealth v. Brown (2018) pa “In support of this position, Brown and the Commonwealth focus on the relative roles of this Court, through the exercise of its judicial powers, and district attorneys, through their exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Brown states that this Court wields "[a]ll powers necessary…”
Municial Publications, Inc. v. Court of Common Pleas (1985) pa · cites it 2× “Given the numerous classes of cases over which the Superior Court has appellate jurisdiction, to hold that that court has the power to intercede in matters which have not advanced to the appellate stage would be tantamount to giving the Superior Court broad King's Bench powers.”
Three Keys Ltd. v. SR Utility Holding Co. (2008) ca3 “as fully and amply, to all intents and purposes, as the justices of the Court of King’s Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer, at Westminster, or any of them, could or might do on May 22, 1722.”
Commonwealth v. Williams, T. (2015) pa · cites it 2× “V, § 2; 42 Pa.C.S. § 502). Article V, Section 2 of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides, in relevant part, that the Supreme Court “shall be the highest court of the Commonwealth and in this court shall be reposed the supreme judicial power of the Commonwealth.”
In Re 42 PA. C. S. § 1703 (1978) pa “The rule-making power of the Supreme Court is constitutionally derived from Article V, *538 Section 10(c) of the Constitution of 1968 and from its King’s Bench power which is specifically preserved by Section 502 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 502. In addition, the Judicial…”
Commonwealth v. Chimenti (1986) pa · cites it 2× “The Supreme Court shall also have and exercise the following powers: (1) All powers necessary or appropriate in aid of its original and appellate jurisdiction which are agreeable to the usages and principles of law.”
In Re Assignment of Avellino (1997) pa “The General Assembly recognized this distinction by acknowledging the general powers of the Supreme Court in 42 Pa.C.S. § 502. See also Pa.R.A.P. 3309, which is drawn in the disjunctive (“An application for extraordinary relief under 42 Pa.”
Mulligan v. Piczon (2001) pa “However, rather than concluding that the common pleas court lacked the power to enter its attachment order, I would simply disapprove subsequent attachments pursuant to an exercise of this Court’s supervisory powers.”
Commonwealth v. Klueber (2006) pa “V, § 10(a); 42 Pa.C.S. § 502; In re Avellino, 547 Pa.”
Show all 44 citing cases →
— 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 502(1) — 1 case
Commonwealth v. Brown (2018) pa “In support of this position, Brown and the Commonwealth focus on the relative roles of this Court, through the exercise of its judicial powers, and district attorneys, through their exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Brown states that this Court wields "[a]ll powers necessary…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.