Title 28 — Judiciary and Judicial ProcedureRelease 119-73
§118 Pennsylvania
Title 28 › Part PART I— - ORGANIZATION OF COURTS › Chapter CHAPTER 5— - DISTRICT COURTS › § 118
Summary
Pennsylvania is split into three federal court districts called the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts. Each district covers a group of counties and has set cities where its courts meet. The Eastern District covers 9 counties, including Berks, Bucks, and Philadelphia. Courts meet in Allentown, Easton, Lancaster, Reading, and Philadelphia. The Middle District covers 33 counties, including Adams, Lackawanna, Luzerne, and York. Courts meet in Harrisburg, Lewisburg, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Williamsport. The Western District covers 25 counties, including Allegheny, Erie, and Westmoreland. Courts meet in Erie, Johnstown, and Pittsburgh.
Full Legal Text
Title 28, §118
Judiciary and Judicial Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Pennsylvania is divided into three judicial districts to be known as the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Pennsylvania. Eastern District (a) The Eastern District comprises the counties of Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and Philadelphia. Court for the Eastern District shall be held at Allentown, Easton, Lancaster, Reading, and Philadelphia. Middle District (b) The Middle District comprises the counties of Adams, Bradford, Cameron, Carbon, Centre, Clinton, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lebanon, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mifflin, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Wayne, Wyoming, and York. Court for the Middle District shall be held at Harrisburg, Lewisburg, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Williamsport. Western District (c) The Western District comprises the counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Warren, Washington, and Westmoreland. Court for the Western District shall be held at Erie, Johnstown, and Pittsburgh.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 184 (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, § 103, 36 Stat. 1123; Mar. 3, 1913, ch. 113, 37 Stat. 730;
June 6, 1914, ch. 104, 38 Stat. 385; Sept. 9, 1914, ch. 296, 38 Stat. 713; Apr. 26, 1926, ch. 185, 44 Stat. 324;
June 27, 1930, ch. 634, 46 Stat. 820; Aug. 3, 1935, ch. 433, 49 Stat. 514;
May 13, 1936, ch. 385, 49 Stat. 1271;
June 13, 1938, ch. 351, 52 Stat. 674; Mar. 5, 1942, ch. 143, 56 Stat. 132). Provisions relating to maintenance of offices at certain places by the clerks and marshals were omitted as covered by section 541 [see 561] and 751 of this title. Provisions for the continuance of terms were omitted as covered by section 139 of this title. Provisions with respect to the return of process, and the places of keeping court papers, were omitted as matters for determination by rule of court or for the action of the judicial council in cooperation with the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The provisions for trial of cases at Lewisburg and Erie unless counsel consent to trial elsewhere were omitted as inconsistent with the uniform practice provided by this title. Changes were made in phraseology and arrangement. Senate Revision AmendmentBy Senate amendment to the bill, Blair County was transferred from the Middle District to the Western District of Pennsylvania. This was in conformity with Act
July 11, 1947, ch. 224, 61 Stat. 310, which so amended section 184 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., the source of this section. See 80th Congress
Senate Report No. 1559
.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1998—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 105–277, § 101(b) [title VI, § 624(a)(1)], substituted “and Philadelphia” for “Philadelphia, and Schuylkill”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 105–277, § 101(b) [title VI, § 624(a)(2)], inserted “Schuylkill,” after “Potter,”. 1992—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–396 inserted “Lancaster,” before “Reading”. 1978—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 95–573 provided for holding court at Johnstown. 1970—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91–272 provided for holding court at Allentown and Reading.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1998 Amendment Pub. L. 105–277, div. A, § 101(b) [title VI, § 624(b)], Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–50, 2681–116, provided that: “(1) This section [amending this section] and the
Amendments
made by this section shall take effect 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 21, 1998]. “(2) This section and the
Amendments
made by this section shall not affect any action commenced before the
Effective Date
of this section and pending on such date in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “(3) This section and the
Amendments
made by this section shall not affect the composition, or preclude the service, of any grand or petit jury summoned, impaneled, or actually serving on the
Effective Date
of this section.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
28 U.S.C. § 118
Title 28 — Judiciary and Judicial Procedure
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73